Problem starting ps3joy.py node on Ubuntu 20.04/Noetic

[lubaroli]

Hello,

I'm trying to run ps3joy on Ubuntu 20.04 and after successfully installing ros-noetic-joy, ros-noetic-joystick-drivers, and pairing the remote via USB I get the following error when starting the node:

user@localhost: sudo bash
root@localhost: source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash
root@localhost: rosrun ps3joy ps3joy.py

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/opt/ros/noetic/lib/ps3joy/ps3joy.py", line 436, in <module>
    cm = connection_manager(decoder(inactivity_timeout=inactivity_timeout,
  File "/opt/ros/noetic/lib/ps3joy/ps3joy.py", line 169, in __init__
    self.joy = uinputjoy(buttons, axes, axmin, axmax, axfuzz, axflat)
  File "/opt/ros/noetic/lib/ps3joy/ps3joy.py", line 104, in __init__
    struct.pack(uinput_user_dev, "Sony Playstation SixAxis/DS3",
struct.error: argument for 's' must be a bytes object

Is this package compatible with python 3.8?

[mikaelarguedas]

+1 there seem to be multiple issues with this package's in Noetic.
Based on commit history: @JWhitleyWork @clalancette do you know if this package has been ported to Python3 prior to being released in Noetic ?
Is there ongoing effort to make it Python3 compatible ?

/cc @sloretz

[clalancette]

Is there ongoing effort to make it Python3 compatible ?

Not as far as I know. I'm happy to review PRs for it.

[mikaelarguedas]

Not as far as I know. I'm happy to review PRs for it.

Sounds good, in the meantime is it possible to remove the deb from the repos ?
It is pretty misleading for people doing due diligence of packages available to see a deb available but then find out the packages are installable but not usable.

[clalancette]

Sounds good, in the meantime is it possible to remove the deb from the repos ?

I'll defer judgement of that to @JWhitleyWork who does most of the maintenance here. @sloretz , opinion here is also welcome.

[JWhitleyWork]

@clalancette @mikaelarguedas Thanks for bringing this up. I've been pretty neglectful of this repo for a while and it has obviously caused some problems. However, I hate to pull the packages from the build farm in this staack that have either little or no Python dependency (like joy) that people rely on heavily. To that end:

• joy: Only two Python scripts:
  • test/test_joy_msg_migration.py - This is obsolete because the sensor_msgs::Joy message hasn't changed since before Indigo
  • scripts/joy_remap.py - Seems to be fine in Python3.8
• joystick_drivers - meta-package - no changes required
• ps3joy - Obviously has problems, as pointed out in this issue
• spacenav_node - pure C++ - no issues
• wiimote - Pure Python package - needs port

Based on the above, I think we should temporarily remove ps3joy and wiimote from the build farm until they have been ported and verified. Additionally, it looks like there may be problems with ps3joy on the ROS2 branches as well since the code looks basically identical to the Noetic version other than ros2-specific changes. I've opened #204 to track the porting effort. Thoughts? Feedback?

[clalancette]

@JWhitleyWork Actually, the situation on ROS 2 is simple. ps3joy is explicitly disabled via an AMENT_IGNORE file there, so no work needs to be done.

On Noetic, the situation is actually a bit more complex. ps3joy clearly can't work in a ROS environment without a port to Python3. However, as you correctly point out, wiimote actually has both a Python3 and a C++ version. In theory the C++ version works in Noetic, though I haven't tested it one way or the other. I think we should just leave wiimote around in the chance that someone is already using the C++ version.

Thus, I think the only thing that we should do here is to disable ps3joy on Noetic.

[mikaelarguedas]

Thanks for the thorough answer. Removing the ps3joy deb from the repo until the package is ported to Python3 sounds good to me

[mikaelarguedas]

Any update on this issue ? looks like the ps3joy Noetic deb is still up, pulling python2 dependencies and not running with Python3

[JWhitleyWork]

I'm not sure how I was able to release wiimote into noetic before but it appears that it is now missing a required package (cwiid-dev) in Fedora so I had to add a CATKIN_IGNORE to that package as well. joy, joystick_drivers, and spacenav_node are now being released as 1.15.1. Here's the PR: ros/rosdistro#29793