INSTALL.md

Install instructions

These install instructions are focused on Debian/Ubuntu systems.

Shared instructions

1. Follow the shared instructions of the C++ library from orocos_kdl/INSTALL.md
2. Depending on your python version install the future and psutil module
   • Python 2: sudo apt-get install python-psutil python-future
   • Python 3: sudo apt-get install python3-psutil python3-future
3. (Optional) Install Sphinx to generate API-documentation
   • Python 2: sudo apt-get install python-sphinx
   • Python 3: sudo apt-get install python3-sphinx

Compilation

With catkin

1. Clone the repository inside the workspace
2. Initialize the PyBind11 submodule: git submodule update --init
3. Build with your catkin tool of preference. This will also build the C++ library
4. Source the workspace
5. (Optional) To generate the API-documentation use either rosdoc_lite or catkin_tools_document

Without catkin

1. Clone the repository where you want
2. Initialize the PyBind11 submodule: git submodule update --init
3. Follow the mandatory instruction to compile the C++ library from orocos_kdl/INSTALL.md
4. Create a new build folder (it is always better not to build in the source folder): mkdir build
5. Go to the build folder cd build
6. Execute cmake: cmake ..
   • (Optional) Adapt CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX to the desired installation directory
   • (Optional) To change the build type, add: -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=<DESIRED_BUILD_TYPE>
   • (Optional) To change the python version (default=2), set ROS_PYTHON_VERSION environment variable to either 2 or 3.
7. Compile: make
8. Install the python bindings: sudo make install
9. Make sure LD_LIBRARY_PATH is set correctly: export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/lib. Add this also to your .bashrc.
10. Execute ldconfig: sudo ldconfig
11. (Optional) Execute tests:
    • Python 2: python2 ../tests/PyKDLtest.py
    • Python 3: python3 ../tests/PyKDLtest.py
12. (Optional) To create the API-documentation: sphinx-build ../doc docs. The API-documentation will be generated at <builddir>/docs.

To uninstall the python bindings: sudo make uninstall