Comment on page
Catkin Tools

Introduction
Installation: sudo apt install python-catkin-tools
​documentation, cheat sheet​
It's time to migrate from catkin_make to catkin build !
catkin build command
rosbuild was the very first build tool developed by ROS community
Then comes catkin_make to help automate the merged build process at the top level
To address the numerous drawbacks of the merged build process,catkin_make_isolated was introduced to isolated build process for each package
Finally, catkin build is the most recent method to build packages, with improved performance
See catkin history for more information
catkin devel space
In addition to the merged and isolated devel space layouts provided by catkin_make and catkin_make_isolated, respectively, catkin_tools provides a default linked layout which enables robust cleaning of individual packages from a workspace.
Specifically, catkin packages are built in the .private hidden directory at the root of the devel space. Files in devel space are symbolic links to files in .privatefolder. 
Additionally, to avoid race condition on setup files (e.g., setup.bash) and other problems in parallelize building, in linked layout only one package generates these files. A package named catkin_tools_prebuild may be built first (before all other packages) for this purpose. 
To use merged layout, run command catkin config --merge-devel.
example catkin commands
#mkdir -p ~/catkin_ws/src
#cd ~/catkin_ws
catkin init  # cf. catkin_init_workspace
​
catkin config --extend /opt/ros/melodic  # extend explicitly
catkin config --merge-devel              # linked --> merged
catkin config --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
​
#cd src
catkin create pkg example
# cf. catkin_create_pkg example
​
catkin create pkg example --catkin-deps std_msgs
# cf. catkin_create_pkg example std_msgs
# deps will be added to catkin COMPONENTS
​
catkin create pkg example --system-deps PCL
# no corresponding command in old style (catkin_make system)
# will generate a new line: find_package(PCL REQUIRED)
​
catkin list  # List the packages in the workspace
​
catkin build  # can run at all levels (~/catkin_ws, ~/catkin_ws/src, within pkg)
catkin build example_pkg  # build only this package
cd ~/catkin_ws/src/example_pkg && catkin build --this
#echo 'source ~/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash' >> ~/.bashrc
​
catkin clean
catkin clean example_pkg  # clean only this package
FAQ & Troubleshooting
WARNING: Your current environment's CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH is different from the
cached CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH used the last time this workspace was built.
​
If you want to use a different CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH you should call `catkin clean`
to remove all references to the previous CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH.
This warning can be ignored and it will continue to use the cached path. It often happens after new workspaces are established and setup files are sourced. 
Alternatively, it can be resolved by explicitly extending other workspaces. 
catkin config --extend /opt/ros/melodic 
to revert, catkin config --no-extend
Development - Previous
CMake
CMakeLists
Last modified 2yr ago