ros-docker

This repository contains required files to run ROS noetic (or any other version of ROS) inside a docker container (with GUI support as well). User "docker" is created inside the container without password and with sudo privileges. Default shell for container is bash, but this can be changed by changing the dockerfile: bash_ros.Dockerfile line to dockerfile: zsh_ros.Dockerfile in docker-compose.yml file.

GUI applications (such as RViz and Gazebo) should work on Windows 10/11 with WSL2, but for native Windows installation (running Docker inside Windows without WSL), you most likely need to run X Server in order for the GUI applications to work (e.g. VcXsrv).

Prerequisites

Only Docker is needed to run the container. If you use older versions of docker, you will have to install Docker Compose as well (as it doesn't come with the Docker package by default). To install Docker Compose, follow the instructions here.

Getting Started

1. Clone this repository with

   git clone https://github.com/Silviis/ros-docker.git

2. Then place your ROS workspace folder inside the cloned repository manually. The workspace should be named catkin_ws (can be edited in docker-compose.yml).

3. (OPTIONAL) If you have your workspace folder in version control, the easiest way to utilize this repository is to fork this repository and then add your catkin workspace as a submodule to that repository. To do so, first clone your fork, then remove the catkin_ws folder from the repository with:

   cd ros-docker

   Then add your workspace as a submodule with:

   git submodule add https://github.com/yourusername/your_catkin_ws.git catkin_ws

Running the container

Note that if you are running older versions of Docker, you might need to use docker-compose instead of docker compose.

1. First make the repository folder your current working directory (in host system):

   cd ros-docker

2. To pull, build and run the container use:

   docker compose up -d

   This will pull the base image from Docker Hub, make some changes to it (see Dockerfile) and run it in detached mode.

3. To attach a shell to the running container run the following command:

   docker compose exec ros bash

   This will attach a bash shell to the running container. Replace bash with zsh if you are using zsh as your shell.

4. Now you should be able to use the ROS tools inside the container. For example:

    rostopic list

5. To build the workspace inside the container, first enter the workspace folder (inside the container environment) with:

   cd /home/docker/catkin_ws

   and build the workspace with

   catkin build # Or catkin_make if it is preferred

6. Then access your ros packages inside the container, first source the workspace with:

    source /home/docker/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash

   or

    source /home/docker/catkin_ws/devel/setup.zsh

   if you are using zsh as your shell.

7. Now you should be able to run your ROS packages inside the container as you would normally do. For example:

    rosrun yourpkg yournode

8. To exit the container, simply type exit in the terminal (or press ctrl + d). To shut down the container use:

   docker compose down

   This will stop and remove the container. Notice that this command will remove all the changes made to the container (installed packages etc.) excluding the changes made to the workspace folder (and its subfolders) as it is mounted to the host system. You can add more mounted directories (even multiple workspaces) to the container in docker-compose.yml file if needed.

9. The environment variables (ROS_IP & ROS_MASTER_URI) in .env file should be edited according to your needs. The default values point to localhost. You can also set these variables inside the container environment if you prefer (e.g. by running export ROS_IP=your_ip inside the container).