cartographer_superbuild

This repository contains a CMake project which builds the Google Cartographer library and the ROS node in a single project, which facilitates easier debugging in an IDE such as CLion or KDevelop.

Usage

Be sure to source the ROS Kinetic environment for your shell (e.g. source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash), even when when using an IDE.

First, clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/ojura/cartographer_superbuild.git

Next, clone the Cartographer library, the Ceres library and the ROS nodes into the super-build directory:

cd cartographer_superbuild
git clone https://github.com/googlecartographer/cartographer.git
git clone https://github.com/googlecartographer/cartographer_ros.git
git clone https://ceres-solver.googlesource.com/ceres-solver.git

Install the prerequisites:

sudo apt install -y python-rosdep

sudo rosdep init ## you have probably executed rosdep init and update when installing ROS
rosdep update    ## and can safely skip it here in that case

rosdep install --from-paths . --ignore-src --rosdistro=${ROS_DISTRO} -y

cd ceres-solver
cmake .
make -j8
sudo make install
cd ..

Building with CMake

From here, you can follow the classic build pattern for a CMake build: mkdir build, cd build, cmake ../, make -j8. The catkin workspace can be sourced from build/devel/setup.bash if you wish to use rosrun or roslaunch.

Using an IDE

Alternatively, you can open the project in an IDE such as CLion (the ROS environment has to be sourced in the shell from which the IDE has been launched). After starting the IDE, open the cartographer_superbuild folder as a project. Be sure to change the CMake build type to RelWithDebInfo (in CLion: File -> Settings -> Build, Execution, Deployment -> CMake -> Configuration).

To debug the ROS node from the IDE, first setup the necessary command-line parameters and topic remappings: in CLion, open Run -> Edit Configurations -> cartographer_node, verify that Target and Executable are set to cartographer_node, and the Configuration to RelWithDebInfo. The parameters and remappings may be entered under "Program arguments" (use the button on the right to open a larger editing field).

You can now run a roscore master and launch the node using the Debug command in CLion.