Installation from source

Source quick-start

1. Install ROS 2 on your system. Refer to the ROS 2 documentation for available options.

2. Load ROS 2 into the shell environment, e.g. if you installed Foxy using the binary packages available for Ubuntu:

   source /opt/ros/foxy/setup.bash
   

2. Install RTI Connext DDS Professional and load it in your environment, e.g. using NDDSHOME:

   export NDDSHOME=~/rti_connext_dds-6.0.1
   

   You can also use variable CONNEXTDDS_DIR instead of NDDSHOME. CONNEXTDDS_DIR will take precedence if set.

   Skip this step if you don’t want to build rmw_connextdds (e.g. if you only want to build rmw_connextddsmicro).

   Note

   rmw_connextdds will only be compiled if RTI Connext DDS Professtional 5.3.1 or later is installed and configured in the environment.

   Replace the example path with your local Connext installation.

   See RTI Connext DDS Professional Requirements for more information about installing and configuring RTI Connext DDS Professional.

3. Optionally, install and load RTI Connext DDS Micro in your environment, e.g.:

   export RTIMEHOME=~/rti_connext_dds_micro-3.0.3
   

   Often, RTIMEHOME can be automatically guessed from the installation of RTI Connext DDS Professional.

   This step is only necessary if you are using an “exported” installation of RTI Connext DDS Micro 3.x outside of an RTI Connext DDS 6.x installation, or if you are planning on building rmw_connextddsmicro only (thus you are not loading RTI Connext DDS Professional in your environment).

   Note

   rmw_connextddsmicro will only be compiled if RTI Connext DDS Micro 3.0.3 or later is installed and configured in the environment.

   Replace the example path with the location of your Micro installation. See RTI Connext DDS Micro Requirements for more information about installing and configuring RTI Connext DDS Micro.

4. Create an overlay directory and clone the repository:

   mkdir -p ~/ros2_connextdds/src/ros2
   cd ~/ros2_connextdds
   git clone https://github.com/ros2/rmw_connextdds.git src/ros2/rmw_connextdds
   

5. Build the RMW:

   colcon build
   

6. Load the generated environment script:

   source ~/ros2_connextdds/install/setup.bash
   

7. Run ROS 2 applications with RTI Connext DDS Professional by setting RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_connextdds, e.g.:

   RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_connextdds ros2 run demo_nodes_cpp talker
   

8. Run ROS 2 applications with RTI Connext DDS Micro by setting RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_connextddsmicro, e.g.:

   RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_connextddsmicro \
   RMW_CONNEXT_INITIAL_PEERS=_shmem:// \
     ros2 run demo_nodes_cpp listener
   

Supported ROS 2 Releases

Each versions of ROS 2 supported by rmw_connextdds and rmw_connextddsmicro is stored in a dedicated branch of ros2/rmw_connextdds.

The following table summarizes the available branches, and the level of support offered for each ROS 2 release:

ROS 2 Release	Branch	Status
Rolling	master	Developed
Foxy	foxy	LTS (May 2023)
Eloquent	eloquent	EOL (Nov 2020)
Dashing	dashing	LTS (May 2021)

Branch master is actively developed and maintained. It is used to create other branches for specific ROS 2 releases (starting from Galactic).

Branches marked as LTS will receive updates for critical bug fixes and important patches only (until they reach EOL).

Branches marked as EOL will not receive any more updates.