ROS 2 Rules for Bazel

Overview

This repository contains all the setup, rules and build configuration to use Bazel with ROS 2. As recommended by Bazel, all ROS 2 packages are built from source. They are loaded as needed, so no a priori loading or manual version management of ROS 2 repos (e.g., via vcs tool) is required.

The neccessary BUILD files for ROS 2 repos are injected while loading. In case Bazel gains some traction within the ROS community, Bazel BUILD files should ideally be provided directly by the ROS 2 repositories.

Specific rules for message generation and packaging are provided in this repository (see rosidl/defs.bzl and pkg/defs.bzl).

! Current Restrictions !

This is still work in progress. Some essential parts are not complete yet. Here is a short list of major restrictions:

• Only tested on Ubunut 20.04 Linux (x86_64). Other Linux distributions may work. Windows will not be supported in the foreseeable future.
• Only ROS 2 Humble is supported. Other distros may work after extending @rules_ros//repos/config/defs.bzl accordingly.
• Message generation is still incomplete. Therefore even the simplest examples will not run due to not yet bazelized middleware.
• Not all packages have been bazelized yet. Main focus currently lies on generating an install space and providing message generation support. Out of all the ROS 2 CLI commands, (ros2cli), only the run command is currently bazelized.
• The streamlined integration of custom packages into the repo setup is not yet available. Same applies to adding additional Python packages. This will be added soon.

Getting started

Prerequisites

Bazel needs to be available. We recommend using bazelisk as a launch tool for Bazel.

Workspace setup

Create an empty folder and add the following files to it:

• WORKSPACE file:

  workspace(name = "my_first_bazel_ros_workspace") # choose your workspace name here
  # load("@bazel_tools//tools/build_defs/repo:http.bzl", "http_archive")
  load("@bazel_tools//tools/build_defs/repo:git.bzl", "git_repository")
  
  RULES_ROS_VERSION = "xxx" # TODO: where to find the right version
  RUIES_ROS_SHA = "xxx"
  
  # until we have a first release, please use this:
  git_repository(
      name = "rules_ros",
      remote = "https://github.com/ApexAI/rules_ros.git",
      branch = "main",
  )
  
  # after the first release, switch to this dependency 
  #https_archive(
  #    name = "rules_ros",
  #    sha256 = RULES_ROS_SHA,
  #    strip_prefix = "xxx",
  #    url = "https://github.com/ApexAI/rules_ros/archive/{}.zip".format(RULES_ROS_VERSION),
  #)
  
  load("@rules_ros//repos/config:defs.bzl", "configure_ros2")
  configure_ros2(distro = "humble") # currently only Humble is supported
  
  load("@ros2_config//:setup.bzl", "setup")
  setup()
  
  load("@rules_ros//thirdparty:setup_01.bzl", "setup_01")
  setup_01()
  
  load("@rules_ros//thirdparty:setup_02.bzl", "setup_02")
  setup_02()
  
  load("@rules_ros//thirdparty:setup_03.bzl", "setup_03")
  setup_03()
  
  load("@rules_ros//thirdparty:setup_04.bzl", "setup_04")
  setup_04()

• .bazelrc file:

  # enable incompatible Python init mode
  build --incompatible_default_to_explicit_init_py
  
  # enable implementation_deps on cc_library targets
  build --experimental_cc_implementation_deps
  
  # set C++14 for all builds
  build --cxxopt="-std=c++17"
  build --host_cxxopt="-std=c++17"

• .bazelversion file (in case you are using bazelisk):

  5.3.1
  

Run Bazel example

To build an example delivered in the rules_ros repository run, e.g.

bazel build @rules_ros//examples/hello_world

from anywhere within your workspace.

Executing the example can be done by calling

bazel run @rules_ros//examples/hello_world

Note that no sourcing is necessary. Bazel will take care of all the dependencies.

Deploying a package archive to an install folder can be done by

bazel run @rules_ros//examples:rules_ros_examples.install <install_folder>

Now we are back to working with ROS as usual. Source the package as usual:

source <install_folder>/setup.bash

and run an executable with

ros2 run hello_world hello_world

Features

Python Interpreter

In this setup, a hermetic Python interpreter is included. The version is specified in thirdparty/python/repositories.bzl. Python packages specified in thirdparty/python/requirements_lock.in are available for use. If you need to add a package, you must run

bazel run @rules_ros//thirdparty/python:requirements_lock.update

to pin specific versions of the dependencies. In the future there will be a possibility to inject a customization in the WORKSPACE file.

ROS 2 Repositories

ROS 2 repositories are made available as external dependencies with the name specified in the ros2.repos file known from the original ROS 2 repository, e.g., the ros2/rclcpp repo will be available as @ros2.rclcpp with all targets specified in the BUILD files in repos/config/ros2.rclcpp.BUILD. The precise location where the build files will be injected into the rclcpp repo is specified in the index file repos/config/bazel.repos.

Therefore, if you need to depend on rclcpp in you code, you need to add "@ros2.rclcpp//rclcpp" as a dependency in your cc_binary or cc_library target.

The exact version of a ROS 2 repository is pinned in the file repos/config/ros2_<distro>.lock. This file can be updated for the configured distro by running:

bazel run @rules_ros//repos/config:repos_lock.update

In the future there will be a possibility to inject any customization in the WORKSPACE file.