Install/Gazebo and ROS


 * 1) Gazebo versions and ROS integration

Since version 2 of Gazebo (gazebo-current package), there are special considerations to take into account that will help you pick the correct package sources and end up with a working installation.


 * 1) Gazebo Ubuntu packages

There are two main repositories which host Gazebo packages. One is packages.ros.org and the other is osrfoundation.packages.org. At the time of writing:

* packages.ros.org hosts Gazebo version 1.9.x package. * packages.osrfoundation.org hosts Gazebo version 2.x.y using the "gazebo-current" package, and Gazebo 1.9.x using the "gazebo" package.

This means that including the osrfoundation repository is not strictly needed to get the Gazebo Ubuntu package. It can be installed from the ros repo.


 * 1) Using Gazebo on ROS Hydro

ROS Hydro hosts the 1.9.x version of Gazebo. For a fully-integrated ROS system, we recommend using the 1.9.x version of Gazebo. The way to proceed is just to use the ROS repository and do not use the osrfoundation repository.


 * 1) Using Gazebo on ROS Groovy

ROS Groovy (and previous versions) does not use the "gazebo" package with this name and instead uses its own ros-groovy-simulator-gazebo. This means you can have ROS and osrfoundation repositories installed without any problem. Note that the Gazebo version used with ROS will be the one shipped by ros-groovy-simulator-gazebo (1.7.x).

'''Warning!: Using this option, you won't be able to use any ROS ubuntu package related to Gazebo from ROS deb repository. The way to go is to build them from source. Thanks to catkin workspaces this is quite easy to do.''' It is not recommended to follow this way unless you need a specific feature from gazebo-current version.
 * 1) Using gazebo-current and ROS

The OSRF repository provides -current versions of ROS gazebo wrappers (ros-gazebo-pkgs) which are built on top of the gazebo-current package. The steps to use them are:

* Add the osrfoundation repository to your sources list * Install "ros-$distro-gazebo-ros-pkgs-current" from the osrfoundation repository, which will bring the "gazebo-current" package. * Use catkin workspaces to compile the rest of the software used from source


 * 1) FAQ


 * 1) I am a DARPA Robotics Challenge participant, which version should I use?

drcsim is built on top of gazebo-current, so this option is recommended.


 * 1) I am not using ROS at all, which version should I use?

If you don't need ROS support, the recommended version is the latest one installed using the osrfoundation repo and the "gazebo-current" package.


 * 1) Which version of Gazebo is going to work in ROS Indigo?

Gazebo 2.x.y is the expected version to be supported in ROS Indigo.

'''Warning!: Using this option, you won't be able to use any ROS Hydro package related to Gazebo from ROS deb repository. The way to go is to build them from source. Thanks to catkin workspaces this is quite easy to do.'''
 * 1) I need to use gazebo-2.x and ROS hydro, what can I do?

If you need some features only present in version 2.x of Gazebo, there is a way of installing "gazebo-current" and ROS Hydro. Please follow the instructions about how to use ROS with gazebo-current package which are in this page.