Source Installation on macOS#

This tutorial will work for macOS Catalina 10.15 and macOS BigSur 10.16.

Install tools#

The use of some additional tools is recommended to help with the source compilation, although other ways of correctly getting and building the sources are also possible.

The easiest way to get the sources of all libraries is to use vcstool.

To compile all the different libraries and ign-gazebo in the right order colcon is recommended. The colcon tool is available on all platforms using pip (or pip3, if pip fails).

Python3 from homebrew#

Tools and dependencies for Fortress can be installed using the homebrew package manager. The homebrew tool can be installed by entering the following in a terminal:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

Fortress is compatible with Python3; it can be installed by running the following in a terminal:

brew install python3

vcstool and colcon from pip#

PIP is available on all platforms:

python3 -m pip install vcstool
python3 -m pip install -U colcon-common-extensions

Getting the sources#

The first step is to create a developer workspace in which vcstool and colcon can work:

mkdir -p ~/workspace/src
cd ~/workspace/src

All the sources of ignition-fortress are declared in a yaml file. Download it to the workspace:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ignition-tooling/gazebodistro/master/collection-fortress.yaml

Use vcstool to automatically retrieve all the Ignition libraries sources from their repositories:

vcs import < collection-fortress.yaml

The src subdirectory should contain all the sources ready to be built.

Install dependencies#

Add osrf/simulation to Homebrew formulae

brew update
brew tap osrf/simulation

Install all dependencies:

Dependency for Ogre:

brew cask install xquartz

General dependencies:

brew install assimp boost bullet cmake cppzmq dartsim doxygen eigen fcl ffmpeg flann freeimage freetype gflags google-benchmark gts ipopt irrlicht jsoncpp libccd libyaml libzzip libzip nlopt ode open-scene-graph ossp-uuid ogre1.9 ogre2.2 pkg-config protobuf qt qwt rapidjson ruby tbb tinyxml tinyxml2 urdfdom zeromq

qt@5 is a “keg only” Homebrew formula and its path must be explicitly configured before building Gazebo:

# qt@5
export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=${CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH:+$CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH:}`brew --prefix qt@5`

Unlink qt to avoid conflicts with other versions of qt (e.g. qt6)

brew unlink qt

Install compiler requirements#

The Ignition Libraries require the Xcode 10 compiler on MacOS Mojave.

On Mac machines, gcc is acquired by installing Xcode command line tools. The required version of Xcode for Fortress is Xcode 10.3, which can be downloaded from Apple Developer Site. You will need to sign in to your Apple account and download the Mojave version of Xcode command line tools. Command line tools can also be obtained by downloading Xcode from the Apple App Store (installing the full app may take over an hour).

Building the Ignition Libraries in MacOS Catalina (10.15)#

If you want to compile Ignition Libraries in MacOS Catalina (10.15) you will need to apply some patches in your filesystem:

  • /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.15.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Headers/ruby/ruby/intern.h

Create a file called intern.patch with the following content:

--- intern.h    2019-12-16 18:17:08.000000000 +0100
+++ /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.15.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Headers/ruby/ruby/intern.h
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@
 #ifndef RUBY_INTERN_H
 #define RUBY_INTERN_H 1

+#if __cplusplus > 199711L
+#define register      // Deprecated in C++11.
+#endif  // #if __cplusplus > 199711L
+
 #if defined(__cplusplus)
 extern "C" {
 #if 0

Now we can apply the patch:

sudo patch -p0 < intern.patch
  • /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.15.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Headers/ruby/ruby/config.h

Create a file called config.patch with the following content:

--- config.h    2019-12-16 18:19:13.000000000 +0100
+++ /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.15.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Headers/ruby/ruby/config.h
@@ -410,6 +410,6 @@
 #define RUBY_PLATFORM_CPU "x86_64"
 #endif /* defined __x86_64__ &&! defined RUBY_PLATFORM_CPU */
 #define RUBY_PLATFORM_OS "darwin19"
-#define RUBY_ARCH"universal-"RUBY_PLATFORM_OS
-#define RUBY_PLATFORM"universal."RUBY_PLATFORM_CPU"-"RUBY_PLATFORM_OS
+#define RUBY_ARCH "universal-" RUBY_PLATFORM_OS
+#define RUBY_PLATFORM "universal." RUBY_PLATFORM_CPU "-" RUBY_PLATFORM_OS
 #endif /* INCLUDE_RUBY_CONFIG_H */

Now we can appply the patch:

sudo patch -p0 < config.patch

Building the Ignition Libraries#

Once the compiler and all the sources are in place it is time to compile them. Start the procedure by changing into the workspace and listing the packages recognized by colcon:

cd ~/workspace/
colcon graph

colcon graph should list the Ignition libraries with an interdependency diagram. If that is the case, then you are ready to build the whole set of libraries:

colcon build --merge-install

To speed up the build process, you could also disable tests by using

colcon build --cmake-args -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF --merge-install

To use debuggers activate debug symbols. Gazebo will run slower, but you’ll be able to use GDB:

colcon build --cmake-args ' -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF' ' -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug' --merge-install

To build a specific package with all its dependent packages:

colcon build --merge-install --packages-up-to PACKAGE_NAME

To build a single package:

colcon build --merge-install --packages-select PACKAGE_NAME

Visit colcon documentation to view more colcon build and test options.

If there are no errors, all the binaries should be ready to use.

Using the workspace#

The workspace needs to be sourced every time a new terminal is used.

Run the following command to source the workspace in bash:

. ~/workspace/install/setup.bash

Or in zsh:

. ~/workspace/install/setup.zsh

This is the end of the source install instructions; head back to the Getting started page to start using Ignition!

Uninstalling source-based install#

If you need to uninstall Ignition or switch to a binary-based install once you have already installed the library from source, navigate to your source code directory’s build folders and run make uninstall:

cd /workspace
sudo make uninstall

Troubleshooting#

See Troubleshooting