1. Linux installation from sources

The instructions for installing the DDS Router application from sources and its required dependencies are provided in this page. It is organized as follows:

1.1. Dependencies installation

DDS Router depends on eProsima Fast DDS library and certain Debian packages. This section describes the instructions for installing DDS Router dependencies and requirements in a Linux environment from sources. The following packages will be installed:

  • foonathan_memory_vendor, an STL compatible C++ memory allocation library.

  • fastcdr, a C++ library that serializes according to the standard CDR serialization mechanism.

  • fastrtps, the core library of eProsima Fast DDS library.

First of all, the Requirements and Dependencies detailed below need to be met. Afterwards, the user can choose whether to follow either the colcon or the CMake installation instructions.

1.1.1. Requirements

The installation of DDS Router in a Linux environment from sources requires the following tools to be installed in the system:

1.1.1.1. CMake, g++, pip, wget and git

These packages provide the tools required to install DDS Router and its dependencies from command line. Install CMake, g++, pip, wget and git using the package manager of the appropriate Linux distribution. For example, on Ubuntu use the command:

sudo apt install cmake g++ pip wget git

1.1.1.2. Colcon

colcon is a command line tool based on CMake aimed at building sets of software packages. Install the ROS 2 development tools (colcon and vcstool) by executing the following command:

pip3 install -U colcon-common-extensions vcstool

Note

If this fails due to an Environment Error, add the --user flag to the pip3 installation command.

1.1.1.3. Gtest

Gtest is a unit testing library for C++. By default, DDS Router does not compile tests. It is possible to activate them with the opportune CMake options when calling colcon or CMake. For more details, please refer to the CMake options section. For a detailed description of the Gtest installation process, please refer to the Gtest Installation Guide.

1.1.2. Dependencies

DDS Router has the following dependencies, when installed from sources in a Linux environment:

1.1.2.1. Asio and TinyXML2 libraries

Asio is a cross-platform C++ library for network and low-level I/O programming, which provides a consistent asynchronous model. TinyXML2 is a simple, small and efficient C++ XML parser. Install these libraries using the package manager of the appropriate Linux distribution. For example, on Ubuntu use the command:

sudo apt install libasio-dev libtinyxml2-dev

1.1.2.2. OpenSSL

OpenSSL is a robust toolkit for the TLS and SSL protocols and a general-purpose cryptography library. Install OpenSSL using the package manager of the appropriate Linux distribution. For example, on Ubuntu use the command:

sudo apt install libssl-dev

1.1.2.3. eProsima dependencies

If it already exists in the system an installation of Fast DDS library with version greater than 2.4.0, just source this library when building the DDS Router application by using the command:

source <fastdds-installation-path>/install/setup.bash

In other case, just download Fast DDS project from sources and build it together with DDS Router using colcon as it is explained in section Colcon installation.

1.2. Colcon installation

  1. Create a DDS-Router directory and download the .repos file that will be used to install DDS Router and its dependencies:

    mkdir -p ~/DDS-Router/src
    cd ~/DDS-Router
    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eProsima/DDS-Router/main/ddsrouter.repos
    vcs import src < ddsrouter.repos
    

    Note

    In case there is already a Fast DDS installation in the system it is not required to download and build every dependency in the .repos file. It is just needed to download and build the DDS Router project having sourced its dependencies. Refer to section eProsima dependencies in order to check how to source Fast DDS library.

  2. Build the packages:

    colcon build
    

Note

Being based on CMake, it is possible to pass the CMake configuration options to the colcon build command. For more information on the specific syntax, please refer to the CMake specific arguments page of the colcon manual.

1.3. CMake installation

This section explains how to compile DDS Router with CMake, either locally or globally.

1.3.1. Local installation

  1. Create a DDS-Router directory where to download and build DDS Router and its dependencies:

    mkdir ~/DDS-Router
    
  2. Clone the following dependencies and compile them using CMake.

    • Foonathan memory

      cd ~/DDS-Router
      git clone https://github.com/eProsima/foonathan_memory_vendor.git
      mkdir foonathan_memory_vendor/build
      cd foonathan_memory_vendor/build
      cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Router/install -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON
      cmake --build . --target install
      
    • Fast CDR

      cd ~/DDS-Router
      git clone https://github.com/eProsima/Fast-CDR.git
      mkdir Fast-CDR/build
      cd Fast-CDR/build
      cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Router/install
      cmake --build . --target install
      
    • Fast DDS

      cd ~/DDS-Router
      git clone https://github.com/eProsima/Fast-DDS.git
      mkdir Fast-DDS/build
      cd Fast-DDS/build
      cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Router/install -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/DDS-Router/install
      cmake --build . --target install
      
  3. Once all dependencies are installed, install DDS Router:

    cd ~/DDS-Router
    git clone https://github.com/eProsima/DDS-Router.git
    mkdir DDS-Router/build
    cd DDS-Router/build
    cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Router/install -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/DDS-Router/install
    cmake --build . --target install
    

Note

By default, DDS Router does not compile tests. However, they can be activated by downloading and installing Gtest and building with CMake option -DBUILD_TESTS=ON.

1.3.2. Global installation

To install DDS Router system-wide instead of locally, remove all the flags that appear in the configuration steps of Fast-CDR, Fast-DDS, and DDS-Router, and change the first in the configuration step of foonathan_memory_vendor to the following:

-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local/ -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON

1.4. Run an application

To run the DDS Router application, source the Fast DDS library and execute the executable file that has been installed in <install-path>/ddsrouter/bin/ddsrouter:

# If built has been done using colcon, all projects could be sourced as follows
source install/setup.bash
./<install-path>/ddsrouter/bin/ddsrouter

Be sure that this executable has execute permissions.