ROS2 Cross-Compilation Workspace

This workspace provides a complete environment for compiling and cross-compiling ROS2 from source for various target platforms.

Overview

ROS2 (Robot Operating System 2) is a flexible framework for writing robot software. This repository enables you to:

• Native compilation: Build ROS2 from source for your host system
• Cross-compilation: Build ROS2 for different target architectures (ARM, ARM64, etc.)
• Custom configurations: Tailor the build process to your specific hardware requirements

Features

• Pre-configured workspace structure for ROS2 source builds
• Cross-compilation toolchain setup and configuration
• Scripts and tools to simplify the build process
• Support for multiple target architectures
• Build optimization options

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 22.04 (recommended) or Ubuntu 24.04
• Minimum 4GB RAM (8GB+ recommended for faster builds)
• 20GB+ free disk space
• Basic understanding of ROS2 concepts

Required Dependencies

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
    build-essential \
    cmake \
    git \
    python3-pip \
    wget \
    curl

Supported ROS 2 Distributions

Each ROS 2 distribution targets exactly one Ubuntu LTS as a Tier 1 platform. Use the tables below to choose a value for the -d option of ros2_clone_script.sh and to make sure your host Ubuntu version matches.

Currently supported

ROS 2 Distribution	Release date	EOL date	Ubuntu (Tier 1)	Type
Rolling Ridley	continuous	-	Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble)	development
Kilted Kaiju	May 23, 2025	December 2026	Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble)	non-LTS
Jazzy Jalisco	May 23, 2024	May 2029	Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble)	LTS (5 years)
Humble Hawksbill	May 23, 2022	May 2027	Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy)	LTS (5 years)

Upcoming

ROS 2 Distribution	Expected release	Expected EOL	Ubuntu (Tier 1)
Lyrical Luth	May 2026	May 2031	Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble) - LTS

End-of-life

ROS 2 Distribution	Release date	EOL date	Ubuntu (Tier 1)
Iron Irwini	May 2023	December 2024	Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy)
Galactic Geochelone	May 2021	December 2022	Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal)
Foxy Fitzroy	June 2020	June 2023	Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal)
Eloquent Elusor	November 2019	November 2020	Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic)
Dashing Diademata	May 2019	May 2021	Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic)
Crystal Clemmys	December 2018	December 2019	Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic)
Bouncy Bolson	July 2018	July 2019	Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic)
Ardent Apalone	December 2017	December 2018	Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial)

Key rules

• A new ROS 2 distribution is released every year on May 23rd (World Turtle Day).
• Each ROS 2 release is supported on exactly one Ubuntu LTS.
• LTS ROS 2 releases (even years, starting with Humble) are supported for 5 years.
• Non-LTS ROS 2 releases are supported for ~18 months.
• Odd-year ROS 2 releases share the Ubuntu LTS of the previous year's LTS ROS 2 release.

Recommendation

• New project → Jazzy Jalisco on Ubuntu 24.04 (supported until May 2029).
• Existing project / legacy code → Humble Hawksbill on Ubuntu 22.04 (supported until May 2027).

References

• ROS 2 Distributions list
• ROS 2 Platform EOL Policy
• ROS 2 Release Schedule
• REP 2000 - Target platforms per distribution
• endoflife.date - ROS 2

Getting Started

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/sylvainpastor/ros2_compilation.git
cd ros2_compilation

2. Initialize the Workspace

# Install ROS2 build tools
pip3 install -U \
    colcon-common-extensions \
    vcstool

3. Download ROS2 source code

./ros2_clone_script.sh --help
Usage: ./ros2_clone_script.sh [OPTIONS]

Description:
  Clone ROS2 source repositories for a specific distribution and release.
  Useful for synchronizing with meta-ros Yocto builds.

Options:
  -d, --distro DISTRO      ROS2 distribution (humble, iron, jazzy, rolling)
  -r, --release RELEASE    Specific release tag (optional)
  -t, --target DIR         Target directory (default: ros2_ws)
  -c, --clean              Clean target directory before cloning
  -h, --help               Show this help message

Examples:
  ./ros2_clone_script.sh -d humble                    # Latest Humble version
  ./ros2_clone_script.sh -d humble -r release/humble  # Specific Humble release
  ./ros2_clone_script.sh -d iron -t my_workspace      # Iron in custom workspace
  ./ros2_clone_script.sh -d humble -r 20230417 -c     # Dated release with cleanup

Notes:
  - For meta-ros synchronization, use the exact tag/commit from meta-ros
  - The script validates URLs before cloning
  - Requires vcstool, git, and curl/wget to be installed

Example usage:

# Example: humble distribution, release date 2025-03-31 and target directory ros2_ws
./ros2_clone_script.sh -d humble -t ros2_ws -r 20250331

4. Native Compilation

To build ROS2 for your host system:

Option 1: Using colcon directly

cd ros2_ws
# Build
colcon build --symlink-install

Option 2: Using the provided Makefile

# Copy
cp Makefile ros2_ws
cd ros2_ws
make

Expected output:

...
Summary: 346 packages finished [17min 41s]

5. Cross-Compilation

TODO: Documentation coming soon.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT - see the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

Resources

• ROS2 Documentation
• ROS2 Building from Source