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docker-ros – Automated Containerization of ROS Apps

docker-ros automatically builds minimal container images of ROS applications.

[!IMPORTANT]
This repository is open-sourced and maintained by the Institute for Automotive Engineering (ika) at RWTH Aachen University.
DevOps, Containerization and Orchestration of Software-Defined Vehicles are some of many research topics within our Vehicle Intelligence & Automated Driving domain.
If you would like to learn more about how we can support your advanced driver assistance and automated driving efforts, feel free to reach out to us!
:email: opensource@ika.rwth-aachen.de

About
- Prerequisites
Usage
Advanced Dependencies
Additional Information
- User Setup
Configuration Variables

We recommend to use docker-ros in combination with our other tools for Docker and ROS.

docker-ros-ml-images provides machine learning-enabled ROS Docker images <a href="https://github.com/ika-rwth-aachen/docker-ros-ml-images"><img src="https://img.shields.io/github/stars/ika-rwth-aachen/docker-ros-ml-images?style=social"/></a>
docker-run is a CLI tool for simplified interaction with Docker images <a href="https://github.com/ika-rwth-aachen/docker-run"><img src="https://img.shields.io/github/stars/ika-rwth-aachen/docker-run?style=social"/></a>

About

docker-ros provides a generic Dockerfile that can be used to build development and deployment Docker images for arbitrary ROS packages or package stacks. Building such images can easily be automated by integrating docker-ros into CI through the provided GitHub action or GitLab CI template. The development image built by docker-ros contains all required dependencies and the source code of your ROS-based repository. The deployment image only contains dependencies and the compiled binaries created by building the ROS packages in the repository. docker-ros is also able to build multi-arch Docker images for amd64 and arm64 architectures.

The Dockerfile performs the following steps to build these images:

All dependency repositories that are defined in a .repos file anywhere in the repository are cloned using vcstool.
(optional) Packages blacklisted in a special file blacklisted-packages.txt are removed from the workspace (see Advanced Dependencies).
The ROS dependencies listed in each package's package.xml are installed by rosdep.
(optional) Additional apt dependencies from a special file additional-debs.txt are installed, if needed (see Advanced Dependencies).
(optional) Additional pip requirements from a special file additional-pip-requirements.txt are installed, if needed (see Advanced Dependencies).
(optional) A special folder additional-files/ is copied into the images, if needed (see Advanced Dependencies).
(optional) A special script custom.sh is executed to perform further arbitrary installation commands, if needed (see Advanced Dependencies).
(deployment) All ROS packages are built using catkin (ROS) or colcon (ROS2).
(deployment) A custom launch command is configured to run on container start.

Prerequisites

docker-ros is made for automated execution in GitHub or GitLab CI pipelines. For local execution, see Build images locally.

<details><summary>GitHub</summary>

GitHub offers free minutes on GitHub-hosted runners executing GitHub Actions, see here. No further setup is required other than integrating docker-ros into your repository, see Usage.

Note that GitHub is currently only offering Linux runners based on the amd64 architecture. docker-ros can also build multi-arch Docker images solely on the amd64 platform through emulation, but performance can be improved greatly by deploying self-hosted runners for the arm64 platform.

</details> <details><summary>GitLab</summary>

Note

GitLab runners must be based on the Docker executor, see here

GitLab runners must run in privileged mode for Docker-in-Docker, see here

GitLab runners must be tagged with tags privileged and either amd64 or arm64 depending on their architecture

GitLab offers free minutes on GitLab-hosted runners executing GitLab CI pipelines on gitlab.com, see here. On self-hosted GitLab instances, you can set up self-hosted runners, see here.

Note that GitLab is currently only offering Linux runners based on the amd64 architecture. docker-ros can also build multi-arch Docker images solely on the amd64 platform through emulation, but performance can be improved greatly by deploying self-hosted runners for the arm64 platform.

</details>

Usage

docker-ros can easily be integrated into any GitHub or GitLab repository containing ROS packages. Example integrations can be found in the following sections. Configuration options can be found here. For local execution, see Build images locally.

<details open><summary>GitHub</summary>

docker-ros provides a GitHub action that can simply be added to a job via the jobs.<job_id>.steps[*].uses keyword. A quick start for GitHub Actions is found here.

</details> <details open><summary>GitLab</summary>

docker-ros provides a GitLab CI template that can simply be included in a .gitlab-ci.yml file. A quick start for GitLab CI is found here.

</details>

Build a minimal image for deployment

<details open><summary>GitHub</summary>

on: push
jobs:
  docker-ros:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: ika-rwth-aachen/docker-ros@v1.3.1
        with:
          base-image: rwthika/ros2:humble
          command: ros2 run my_pkg my_node

</details> <details open><summary>GitLab</summary>

include:
  - remote: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ika-rwth-aachen/docker-ros/v1.3.1/.gitlab-ci/docker-ros.yml

variables:
  BASE_IMAGE: rwthika/ros2:humble
  COMMAND: ros2 run my_pkg my_node

</details>

Build development and deployment images

<details><summary>GitHub</summary>

on: push
jobs:
  docker-ros:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: ika-rwth-aachen/docker-ros@v1.3.1
        with:
          base-image: rwthika/ros2:humble
          command: ros2 run my_pkg my_node
          target: dev,run

</details> <details><summary>GitLab</summary>

include:
  - remote: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ika-rwth-aachen/docker-ros/v1.3.1/.gitlab-ci/docker-ros.yml

variables:
  BASE_IMAGE: rwthika/ros2:humble
  COMMAND: ros2 run my_pkg my_node
  TARGET: dev,run

</details>

Build multi-arch images

<details><summary>GitHub</summary>

on: push
jobs:
  docker-ros:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: ika-rwth-aachen/docker-ros@v1.3.1
        with:
          base-image: rwthika/ros2:humble
          command: ros2 run my_pkg my_node
          target: dev,run
          platform: amd64,arm64

</details> <details><summary>GitLab</summary>

include:
  - remote: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ika-rwth-aachen/docker-ros/v1.3.1/.gitlab-ci/docker-ros.yml

variables:
  BASE_IMAGE: rwthika/ros2:humble
  COMMAND: ros2 run my_pkg my_node
  TARGET: dev,run
  PLATFORM: amd64,arm64

</details>

Build deployment image with additional industrial_ci check

<details><summary>GitHub</summary>

on: push
jobs:
  docker-ros:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: ika-rwth-aachen/docker-ros@v1.3.1
        with:
          base-image: rwthika/ros2:humble
          command: ros2 run my_pkg my_node
          enable-industrial-ci: 'true'

</details> <details><summary>GitLab</summary>

include:
  - remote: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ika-rwth-aachen/docker-ros/v1.3.1/.gitlab-ci/docker-ros.yml

variables:
  BASE_IMAGE: rwthika/ros2:humble
  COMMAND: ros2 run my_pkg my_node
  ENABLE_INDUSTRIAL_CI: 'true'

</details>

Build multi-arch images on arch-specific self-hosted runners in parallel

<details><summary>GitHub</summary>

on: push
jobs:
  docker-ros:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        target: [dev, run]
        platform: [amd64, arm64]
    runs-on: [self-hosted, "${{ matrix.platform }}"]
    steps:
      - uses: ika-rwth-aachen/docker-ros@v1.3.1
        with:
          base-image: rwthika/ros2:humble
          command: ros2 run my_pkg my_node
          target: ${{ matrix.target }}
          platform: ${{ matrix.platform }}
          enable-singlearch-push: true
      # TODO: manifest

</details> <details><summary>GitLab</summary>

# TODO

</details>

Build images locally

docker-ros can build Docker images locally by executing the build.sh script.

Clone docker-ros as a Git submodule to docker/docker-ros in your repository.

# ros-repository/
mkdir -p docker
git submodule add https://github.com/ika-rwth-aachen/docker-ros.git docker/docker-ros

Configure the build using the same environment variables as used for GitLab CI and run build.sh, e.g.:

# ros-repository/
  BASE_IMAGE="rwthika/ros2:humble" \
  COMMAND="ros2 run my_pkg my_node" \
  IMAGE="my-image:latest" \
./docker/docker-ros/scripts/build.sh

Note
You can alternatively store your environment variable configuration in a .env file:
# .env
BASE_IMAGE="rwthika/ros2:humble"
COMMAND="ros2 run my_pkg my_node"
IMAGE="my-image:latest"

Advanced Dependencies

In order to keep things organized, we recommend to place all docker-ros related files in a docker folder on top repository level.

Recursion

Most of the steps listed in About and below can be toggled between recursive and non-recursive mode, see Configuration Variables. This usually means that not only special files on the top-level are considered (e.g., docker/additional-requirements.txt), but also files with the same name (e.g., additional-requirements.txt) that are found anywhere in the workspace, even after cloning the upstream repositories in step 1.

Package Blacklist

If your ROS-based repository (or any of your repository's upstream dependencies, see .repos) contains ROS packages that should neither be built nor be used for determining dependencies, you can blacklist those in a special blacklisted-packages.txt file.

Create a file blacklisted-packages.txt in your docker folder (or configure a different BLACKLISTED_PACKAGES_FILE) and list any ROS package name to blacklist.

Extra System Dependencies (apt)

If your ROS-based repository requires system dependencies that cannot be installed by specifying their rosdep keys in a package.xml, you can use a special additional-debs.txt file.

Create a file additional-debs.txt in your docker folder (or configure a different ADDITIONAL_DEBS_FILE) and list any other dependencies that need to be installed via apt.

Extra System Dependencies (pip)

If your ROS-based repository requires Python dependencies that cannot be installed by specifying their rosdep keys in a package.xml, you can use a special additional-pip-requirements.txt file.

Create a file additional-pip-requirements.txt in your docker folder (or configure a different ADDITIONAL_PIP_FILE) and list any other Python dependencies that need to be installed via pip.

Custom Installation Script

If your ROS-based repository requires to execute any other installation or pre-/post-installation steps, you can use a special custom.sh script.

Create a script custom.sh in your docker folder (or configure a different CUSTOM_SCRIPT_FILE) that executes arbitrary commands as part of the image building process.

Extra Image Files

If you need to have additional files present in the deployment image, you can use a special additional-files folder. The folder contents will be copied into the container before the custom installation script custom.sh is executed.

Create a folder additional-files in your docker folder (or configure a different ADDITIONAL_FILES_DIR) and place any files or directories in it. The contents will be copied to /docker-ros/additional-files in the image.

Additional Information

User Setup

Containers of the provided images start with root user by default. If the two environment variables DOCKER_UID and DOCKER_GID are passed, a new user with the corresponding UID/GID is created on the fly. Most importantly, this features allows to mount and edit files of the host user in the container without having to deal with permission issues.

docker run --rm -it -e DOCKER_UID=$(id -u) -e DOCKER_GID=$(id -g) -e DOCKER_USER=$(id -un) rwthika/ros:latest

The password of the custom user is set to its username (dockeruser:dockeruser by default).

Configuration Variables

Note
GitHub Action input | GitLab CI environment variable

additional-debs-file | ADDITIONAL_DEBS_FILE
Relative filepath to file containing additional apt deb packages to install
default: docker/additional-debs.txt
additional-files-dir | ADDITIONAL_FILES_DIR
Relative path to directory containing additional files to copy into image
default: docker/additional-files
additional-pip-file | ADDITIONAL_PIP_FILE
Relative filepath to file containing additional pip packages to install
default: docker/additional-pip-requirements.txt
base-image | BASE_IMAGE
Base image name:tag
required
blacklisted-packages-file | BLACKLISTED_PACKAGES_FILE
Relative filepath to file containing blacklisted packages
default: docker/blacklisted-packages.txt
build-context | BUILD_CONTEXT
Build context of Docker build process
default: ${{ github.workspace }} | .
command | COMMAND
Launch command of run image
required if target=run
custom-script-file | CUSTOM_SCRIPT_FILE
Relative filepath to script containing custom installation commands
default: docker/custom.sh
dev-image-name | DEV_IMAGE_NAME
Image name of dev image
default: <IMAGE_NAME>
dev-image-tag | DEV_IMAGE_TAG
Image tag of dev image
default: <IMAGE_TAG>-dev
- | DOCKER_ROS_GIT_REF
Git reference of docker-ros to run in CI
default: main
enable-checkout | -
Enable checkout action to (re-)download your repository prior to running the pipeline
default: true
enable-checkout-submodules | -
Enable submodules for the checkout action (false|true|recursive)
default: recursive
enable-checkout-lfs | -
Enable Git LFS support for the checkout action
default: true
enable-industrial-ci | ENABLE_INDUSTRIAL_CI
Enable industrial_ci
default: false
enable-push-as-latest | ENABLE_PUSH_AS_LATEST
Push images with tag latest/latest-dev in addition to the configured image names
default: false
enable-singlearch-push | ENABLE_SINGLEARCH_PUSH
Enable push of single arch images with -amd64/-arm64 postfix
default: false
git-https-password | GIT_HTTPS_PASSWORD
Password for cloning private Git repositories via HTTPS
default: ${{ github.token }} | $CI_JOB_TOKEN
git-https-server | GIT_HTTPS_SERVER
Server URL (without protocol) for cloning private Git repositories via HTTPS
default: github.com | $CI_SERVER_HOST:$CI_SERVER_PORT
git-https-user | GIT_HTTPS_USER
Username for cloning private Git repositories via HTTPS
default: ${{ github.actor }} | gitlab-ci-token
enable-recursive-additional-debs | ENABLE_RECURSIVE_ADDITIONAL_DEBS
Enable recursive discovery of files named additional-debs-file
default: false
enable-recursive-additional-pip | ENABLE_RECURSIVE_ADDITIONAL_PIP
Enable recursive discovery of files named additional-pip-file
default: false
enable-recursive-blacklisted-packages | ENABLE_RECURSIVE_BLACKLISTED_PACKAGES
Enable recursive discovery of files named blacklisted-packages-file
default: false
enable-recursive-custom-script | ENABLE_RECURSIVE_CUSTOM_SCRIPT
Enable recursive discovery of files named custom-script-file
default: false
enable-recursive-vcs-import | ENABLE_RECURSIVE_VCS_IMPORT
Enable recursive discovery of files named *.repos
default: true
git-ssh-known-host-keys | GIT_SSH_KNOWN_HOST_KEYS
Known SSH host keys for cloning private Git repositories via SSH (may be obtained using ssh-keyscan)
git-ssh-private-key | GIT_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY
SSH private key for cloning private Git repositories via SSH
image-name | IMAGE_NAME
Image name of run image
default: ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }} | $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE
image-tag | IMAGE_TAG
Image tag of run image default: latest
platform | PLATFORM
Target platform architecture (comma-separated list)
default: runner architecture | amd64 supported values: amd64, arm64
registry | REGISTRY
Docker registry to push images to
default: ghcr.io | $CI_REGISTRY
registry-password | REGISTRY_PASSWORD
Docker registry password
default: ${{ github.token }} | $CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD
registry-user | REGISTRY_USER
Docker registry username
default: ${{ github.actor }} | $CI_REGISTRY_USER
rmw-implementation | RMW_IMPLEMENTATION
ROS 2 middleware implementation
default: rmw_cyclonedds_cpp
supported values: rmw_fastrtps_cpp, rmw_cyclonedds_cpp, rmw_gurumdds_cpp, ...
ros-distro | ROS_DISTRO
ROS Distro
required if ROS is not installed in base-image
supported values: rolling, ..., noetic, ...
target | TARGET
Target stage of Dockerfile (comma-separated list)
default: run supported values: dev, run
vcs-import-file | VCS_IMPORT_FILE
Relative filepath to file containing additional repos to install via vcstools (only relevant if enable-recursive-vcs-import=false)
default: .repos