ROS 1 Installation

This document describes the complete steps for installing ROS 1 Melodic on Ubuntu 18.04, as well as solutions for common errors.

1. Configure Software Sources

Ubuntu's default software sources are slow. It is recommended to switch to a domestic mirror (using Aliyun as an example).

Backup the Original sources.list

sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list_backup

Replace with Aliyun Mirror Sources

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following lines at the beginning of the file:

deb http://mirrors.aliyun.com/ubuntu/ bionic main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://mirrors.aliyun.com/ubuntu/ bionic-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://mirrors.aliyun.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://mirrors.aliyun.com/ubuntu/ bionic-proposed main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://mirrors.aliyun.com/ubuntu/ bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://mirrors.aliyun.com/ubuntu/ bionic main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://mirrors.aliyun.com/ubuntu/ bionic-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://mirrors.aliyun.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://mirrors.aliyun.com/ubuntu/ bionic-proposed main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://mirrors.aliyun.com/ubuntu/ bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse

Refresh Software List

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install build-essential

2. Add ROS Software Sources

Official Source

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu $(lsb_release -sc) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'

Tsinghua Mirror (Recommended for Users in China)

sudo sh -c '. /etc/lsb-release && echo "deb http://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/ros/ubuntu/ `lsb_release -cs` main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'

3. Add Keys

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver 'hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80' --recv-key C1CF6E31E6BADE8868B172B4F42ED6FBAB17C654

4. Install ROS

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ros-melodic-desktop-full

5. Install and Initialize rosdep

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python-rosdep
sudo rosdep init
rosdep update

If everything goes smoothly, the output of rosdep initialization and update should look like this:

Fixing rosdep Initialization Failures

If initialization fails (due to limited access to GitHub servers), you can first try connecting via a mobile hotspot to run rosdep init. If that still doesn't work, follow the steps below to modify the configuration.

Fix sources_list.py

sudo gedit /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/rosdep2/sources_list.py

In the download_rosdep_data function, change url = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/..." to url = "https://ghproxy.com/" + url.

Fix rosdistro/init.py

sudo gedit /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/rosdistro/__init__.py

Find DEFAULT_INDEX_URL (around line 72) and change it to:

DEFAULT_INDEX_URL = 'https://ghproxy.com/https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/index-v4.yaml'

Fix gbpdistro_support.py

sudo gedit /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/rosdep2/gbpdistro_support.py

Add the following at the beginning of the download_rosdep_data function (around line 36):

gbpdistro_url = "https://ghproxy.com/" + gbpdistro_url

Fix rep3.py

sudo gedit /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/rosdep2/rep3.py

Add a proxy prefix around line 39.

Fix manifest_provider/github.py

sudo gedit /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/rosdistro/manifest_provider/github.py

Add a proxy prefix around lines 68 and 119.

Handle DNS Issues

If the errors still cannot be resolved, try modifying DNS:

sudo gedit /etc/resolv.conf

Comment out the existing nameserver lines and add:

nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 8.8.4.4

Save and exit, then run:

sudo apt-get update

Then run:

sudo rosdep init

If the error states default sources list file already exists, first delete the existing file:

sudo rm /etc/ros/rosdep/sources.list.d/20-default.list

Then re-run sudo rosdep init.

6. Set Environment Variables

echo "source /opt/ros/melodic/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

7. Install ROS Packages

sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-moveit
sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-joint-state-publisher
sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-robot-state-publisher
sudo apt install ros-melodic-gazebo-ros-pkgs
sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-gazebo-ros-control
sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-joint-trajectory-controller
sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-industrial-core

8. Testing

ROS includes some built-in small programs that can be used to verify whether the ROS environment is working properly.

Start roscore

roscore

Start the Turtle Simulator

Open a new terminal:

rosrun turtlesim turtlesim_node

Start Keyboard Control

Open another terminal:

rosrun turtlesim turtle_teleop_key

Hover the cursor over this terminal, then use the ↑, ↓, ←, → arrow keys to control the turtle's movement: