Step 1: System Setup for ROS2 Iron on macOS

2.42. Step 1: System Setup for ROS2 Iron on macOS#

2.43. Installing Xcode#

In order to get ROS2 running, we need to install Xcode, which lets us work seamlessly with ROS2. Go to the macOS App Store, and search for Xcode:

image.png

After hitting install, restart your MacBook and Xcode should now be fully functional!

Note: If you are unable to install Xcode, update your Mac to the newest software version and it should run properly

Next, run the following commands to get Xcode working:

xcode-select --install

This command will not succeed if you have not installed Xcode.app

sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

If you installed Xcode.app manually, you need to either open it or run:

sudo xcodebuild -license

To accept the Xcode.app license

2.44. Installing Brew#

Next, we need to install Brew. Brew is a useful Mac tool that lets us install dependencies with ease. First, check if you already have Brew installed by opening a terminal and running:

brew help

If the brew menu comes up telling you how to run commands, you’re all set. If not, then download it from this link.

After installing brew, go ahead and run the command:

brew doctor

This will make sure that brew is properly installed on your MacBook.

2.45. Install Dependencies#

To install the dependencies, go ahead and run the following brew command:

brew install asio assimp bison bullet cmake console_bridge cppcheck \
  cunit eigen freetype graphviz opencv openssl orocos-kdl pcre poco \
  pyqt@5 python qt@5 sip spdlog osrf/simulation/tinyxml1 tinyxml2

2.46. Set Up Environment Variables#

Add the openssl dir for DDS-Security

Note: if you are using BASH, then replace ‘.zshrc’ with ‘.bashrc’

echo "export OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR=$(brew --prefix openssl)" >> ~/.zshrc

Add the Qt directory to the PATH and CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH

export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH:$(brew --prefix qt@5)
export PATH=$PATH:$(brew --prefix qt@5)/bin

Next we need to use Python3 to install more dependencies. First upgrade pip using python3:

python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip

And then run the following command:

python3 -m pip install -U \
  --config-settings="--global-option=build_ext" \
  --config-settings="--global-option=-I$(brew --prefix graphviz)/include/" \
  --config-settings="--global-option=-L$(brew --prefix graphviz)/lib/" \
  argcomplete catkin_pkg colcon-common-extensions coverage \
  cryptography empy flake8 flake8-blind-except==0.1.1 flake8-builtins \
  flake8-class-newline flake8-comprehensions flake8-deprecated \
  flake8-docstrings flake8-import-order flake8-quotes \
  importlib-metadata jsonschema lark==1.1.1 lxml matplotlib mock mypy==0.931 netifaces \
  nose pep8 psutil pydocstyle pydot pygraphviz pyparsing==2.4.7 \
  pytest-mock rosdep rosdistro setuptools==59.6.0 vcstool --break-system-packages --user

Note: Please make note of the use of --break-system-packages and --user which are necessary to run python pip within the terminal without issues.

2.47. Disable SIP#

The next step is to disable the built-in macOS System Integrity Protection. It is recommended that once you are done using ROS, to reenable this feature, but is necessary to disable when using ROS as it may interfere when inheriting dynamic linker environment variables, such as DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH.

To disable SIP, start by shutting down your MacBook. After shutting down, start it back up, and during the startup sequence, hold down Command + R. After the computer starts in recovery mode, select the “Utilities” menu at the upper left, and then open a terminal.

Within the terminal, enter the following command:

csrutil disable

and hit enter. Then restart your MacBook like normal. SIP should now be disabled.

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