Introduction

This document provides an overview about the options to use different versions of ROSin combination with different versions of Gazebo.It is recommended to read it before installing the Gazebo ROS wrappers.

Important! simple analysis for a quick and correct decision

If you are planning on using a specific version of ROS and don't have a reasonto use a specific version of Gazebo, you should proceed with theInstalling gazebo_ros_pkgstutorial which explains how to install the fully supported version of gazeboby ROS.

Warning: note that using a different gazebo version than the official version delivered from the ROSrepositories could end up in conflicts or other integration problems with ROS packages.

Gazebo versions and ROS integration

Gazebo is an independent project like boost, ogre orany other project used by ROS. Usually, the latest major version of gazeboavailable at the beginning of every ROS release cycle (for example gazebo5for ROS Jade) is selected as the official one to be fully integrated andsupported and will be kept during the whole life of the ROS distribution.

Gazebo development is not synced with ROS, so each new major version of Gazebomust be released before being used in a ROS distribution. The followingsections cover how to use ROS with different versions of Gazebo.

Note that Gazebo ABI stability policy follows thesemantic versioning philosophy, in which all versionsthat have the same major number (gazebo_6.0.0, gazebo_6.1.0,gazebo_6.0.1, ...) are binary compatible and thus interchangeable when usingthe same ROS distro.

Installing Gazebo

Gazebo Ubuntu packages

The easiest way of installing Gazebo is to use packages. There are two main repositories which host Gazebo packages: one is packages.ros.org and the other is packages.osrfoundation.org. At the time of writing:

• packages.ros.org
  • Indigo: host gazebo version 2.x package.
  • Jade: host gazebo version 5.x package.
• packages.osrfoundation.org
  • gazebo 5.x series (package name gazebo5)
  • gazebo 6.x series (package name gazebo6)
  • gazebo 7.x series (package name gazebo7)

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

Gazebo built from source

If you have compiled a gazebo version from source, note that depending on therepository branch used (gazebo6,gazebo7,...) your gazebo will bebinary compatible with the gazebo_ros_pkgs (and all other ROS packages compiledon top of gazebo) only if the major version matches your local branchrepository and the gazebo version used in your ROS distro. For example, if youare compiling from gazebo branch gazebo_2.0, you can use the gazebo_ros_pkgspresent in Indigo (which uses gazebo2 series).

Note that if you are using default branch, you are probably not binarycompatible with any of the packages released, so you will need a catkinworkspace for getting a valid gazebo_ros_pkgs.

Using the default Gazebo version for a ROS distribution

For the users that need to run a specific version of ROSand want to use all the gazebo ROS related packages out-of-the-box,this is the recommended section:

Jade

ROS Jade hosts the 5.x version of Gazebo.For a fully-integrated ROS system, we recommend using the 5.x version ofGazebo. The way to proceed is just to use the ROS repository (it willautomatically install gazebo5) and do not use the osrfoundationrepository.

Indigo

ROS Indigo hosts the 2.x version of Gazebo.For a fully-integrated ROS system, we recommend using the 2.x version of Gazebo.The way to proceed is just to use the ROS repository (it will automatically install gazebo2)and do not use the osrfoundation repository.

Using a specific Gazebo version with ROS

Warning!: Using this option, you won't be able to use any ROS Ubuntu packagerelated to Gazebo from ROS deb repository. The equivalent of gazebo_ros_pkgscan be installed from debian packages, but all other software (such asturtlebot_gazebo) must be built fromsource. Thanks to catkin workspacesthis is quite easy to do.

There is a way of using any specific version of gazebo and ROS if really needed:

Gazebo 7.x series

The OSRF repository provides -gazebo7- versions of ROS/Indigo and ROS/Jadegazebo wrappers (gazebo7_ros_pkgs) which are built on top of the gazebo7package. The steps to use them are:

• Add the osrfoundation repository to your sources list.
• Install ros-$ROS_DISTRO-gazebo7-ros-pkgs from the osrfoundation repository, which will install the gazebo7 package.
• Use catkin workspaces to compile the rest of the software used from source.

Gazebo 6.x series

The OSRF repository provides -gazebo6- versions of ROS/Indigo and ROS/Jadegazebo wrappers (gazebo6_ros_pkgs) which are built on top of the gazebo6package. The steps to use them are:

• Add the osrfoundation repository to your sources list.
• Install ros-$ROS_DISTRO-gazebo6-ros-pkgs from the osrfoundation repository, which will install the gazebo6 package.
• Use catkin workspaces to compile the rest of the software used from source.

Gazebo 5.x series

The OSRF repository provides -gazebo5- versions of ROS/Indigo gazebo wrappers(gazebo5_ros_pkgs) which are built on top of the gazebo5 package.The steps to use them are:

• Add the osrfoundation repository to your sources list.
• Install ros-indigo-gazebo5-ros-pkgs from the osrfoundation repository, which will install the gazebo5 package.
• Use catkin workspaces to compile the rest of the software used from source.

FAQ

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 released version that can beinstalled using the osrfoundation repo.

I want to use the bullet/simbody/dart physics engine, which version of Gazebo should I use?

Starting from gazebo4, bullet and simbody support is built into the Ubuntu package,so please follow the above instructions to use gazebo4 in combination with ROS.Dart still requires gazebo installation from source (starting from gazebo3),so you can use gazebo3 or above and follow the instructions above in this page to make it work with ROS.

I need to use gazebo5/gazebo6/gazebo7 and ROS Indigo, what can I do?

Warning!: Using this option, you won't be able to use any ROS Indigo 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.

If you need some features only present in version 5.x, 6.x or 7.x of Gazebo,there is a way of installing gazebo5, gazebo6 or gazebo7 and ROS Indigo.Please follow the instructions about how to use ROS with gazebo4, gazebo5 orgazebo6 which are in this same document.

I need to use gazebo6/gazebo7 and ROS Jade, what can I do?

Warning!: Using this option, you won't be able to use any ROS Jade packagerelated to Gazebo from ROS deb repository. The way to go is to build them fromsource. Thanks to catkin workspaces this is quite easy to do.

If you need some features only present in versions 6.x/7.x of Gazebo,there is a way of installing gazebo6 or gazebo7 and ROS Jade. Pleasefollow the instructions about how to use ROS with gazebo6 packagewhich are in this same document.

Some ROS packages conflict with GazeboX ROS Wrappers!

Note that each ROS distribution is designed to be used with an specific versionof Gazebo (gazebo5 in Jade). When someone chooses to use a different versionof Gazebo than the one recommended in the ROS distribution, problems may appearand some of them could be unsolvable.

If you a find a dependency conflict (for example with RVIZ) after trying toinstall one of the versions described in this document, you will need toprobably install ROS or Gazebo from source.