Dockerizing an existing ROS project

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ROS Docker Simple

A simple template project for dockerizing your ROS code. Have your ROS project set up and running in 3 minutes by putting your catkin workspace in catkin_ws and running:

cp ros-project

sudo apt-get install docker
/script/build
/script/run

And that's it!

FAQ

How can I use a different version of ROS?

This works with any supported version of ROS, just edit the top line of the Dockerfile. For example, if you want ROS Kinetic:

FROM ros:kinetic-ros-base

Can I use [my favourite IDE/editor] with this?

Yup! The catkin_ws directory is mounted as a volume inside the container, so you can edit your code as usual, and it will be automatically synced with the container.

Where is my catkin_ws workspace mounted inside the container?

Inside the container, the catkin_ws folder will be mounted at root (/catkin_ws).

How do I install additional packages / dependencies / tools?

Add your dependencies to the RUN command in the Dockerfile (this example installs tmux and ros-kinetic-serial packages using apt, you can add any additional commands or packages you like).

I need another terminal window in the container!

I recommend tmux as an easy way to manage multiple shells in ROS.

However, if you really want multiple terminal windows instead, you can open a new terminal window on your host computer and run:

docker exec -it ros-docker-simple /bin/bash

I want to run a different command on container startup!

You can give your command as an argument to script/run, for example:

script/run roslaunch example.launch

How do I pass a device (e.g. serial, joystick) to the container?

Edit script/run and add the line --device=/dev/ttyUSB0 \ (changing the /dev path to match the path to your device).

How can I easily coordinate multiple containers and have them talk to one another?

The docker-compose tool is the standard way to run multiple containers together: https://docs.docker.com/compose/overview/

Running the scripts gives me a permission denied error!

Is it this one?

docker: Got permission denied while trying to connect to the Docker daemon socket at unix:///var/run/docker.sock: Post http://%2Fvar%2Frun%2Fdocker.sock/v1.26/containers/create: dial unix /var/run/docker.sock: connect: permission denied.

Reason: your user does not have privileges to run Docker. Put your user into the docker group or run with sudo.

It gives me a /ros_entrypoint.sh: line 6: (...): No such file or directory error!

Instead of giving it a command like this:

script/run "cd /tmp/ && ls"

Try this:

script/run sh -c "cd /tmp/ && ls"