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Docker Usage

This tutorial demonstrates how to build a ROS 1 Melodic environment inside a Docker container based on ubuntu:18.04.

note

All commands are executed inside the Docker container. Administrator privileges (sudo) are not required inside Docker.

1. Start the Image​

Start the Ubuntu 18.04 image in interactive mode:

docker run -it ubuntu:18.04 /bin/bash

Start Container

2. ROS Environment Construction​

2.1 Update System Software​

Ensure system packages are up to date:

apt update && apt upgrade

System Update

2.2 Determine the Language Environment​

ROS requires UTF-8 support.

2.2.1 Verify the System Environment​

locale

Locale Check

2.2.2 Set the UTF-8 Environment​

If UTF-8 is not enabled, run:

apt install locales
locale-gen en_US en_US.UTF-8
update-locale LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
echo "export LANG=en_US.UTF-8" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

UTF-8 Setup

2.3 Set Software Source​

Install required tools:

apt install lsb-core

Add ROS software source:

sh -c '. /etc/lsb-release && echo "deb http://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/ros/ubuntu/ `lsb_release -cs` main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'

ROS Source

2.4 Set ROS Key​

apt-key adv --keyserver 'hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80' --recv-key C1CF6E31E6BADE8868B172B4F42ED6FBAB17C654

ROS Key

2.5 Install ROS 1 Desktop Version​

Install ROS Melodic desktop-full:

apt update && apt upgrade
apt install ros-melodic-desktop-full -y

ROS Install

During installation, select your region and city when prompted.

Timezone Select

2.6 Install ROS Dependencies​

apt install python-rosdep python-rosinstall python-rosinstall-generator python-wstool build-essential -y

Dependencies

2.7 rosdep Initialization​

rosdep init
rosdep update
warning

If rosdep init fails due to GitHub access issues, resolve DNS manually by mapping raw.githubusercontent.com in /etc/hosts.

Install editor if needed:

apt install nano -y

2.8 Setting Environment Variables​

2.8.1 Temporary Settings​

source /opt/ros/melodic/setup.bash
echo "source /opt/ros/melodic/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

3. Submit the Image​

After completing configuration, exit the container:

exit

Find the container ID:

docker ps -a

Commit the container as a new image:

docker commit <CONTAINER_ID> ros-melodic:18.04

4. Verify the Image / ROS​

4.1 Start the Image​

docker run -it ros-melodic:18.04 /bin/bash

4.2 Verify the ROS Environment​

roscore

If ROS starts successfully, the environment is ready.

Maintained by HemiHex.