1. Linux installation from sources

The instructions for installing the eProsima DDS Record & Replay from sources and its required dependencies are provided in this page. It is organized as follows:

1.1. Dependencies installation

DDS Record & Replay depends on eProsima Fast DDS library and certain Debian packages. This section describes the instructions for installing DDS Record & Replay dependencies and requirements in a Linux environment from sources. The following packages will be installed:

  • foonathan_memory_vendor, an STL compatible C++ memory allocation library.

  • fastcdr, a C++ library that serializes according to the standard CDR serialization mechanism.

  • fastrtps, the core library of eProsima Fast DDS library.

  • cmake_utils, an eProsima utils library for CMake.

  • cpp_utils, an eProsima utils library for C++.

  • ddspipe, an eProsima internal library that enables the communication of DDS interfaces.

First of all, the Requirements and Dependencies detailed below need to be met. Afterwards, the user can choose whether to follow either the colcon or the CMake installation instructions.

1.1.1. Requirements

The installation of eProsima DDS Record & Replay in a Linux environment from sources requires the following tools to be installed in the system:

1.1.1.1. CMake, g++, pip, wget and git

These packages provide the tools required to install eProsima DDS Record & Replay and its dependencies from command line. Install CMake, g++, pip, wget and git using the package manager of the appropriate Linux distribution. For example, on Ubuntu use the command:

sudo apt install cmake g++ pip wget git

1.1.1.2. Colcon

colcon is a command line tool based on CMake aimed at building sets of software packages. Install the ROS 2 development tools (colcon and vcstool) by executing the following command:

pip3 install -U colcon-common-extensions vcstool

Note

If this fails due to an Environment Error, add the --user flag to the pip3 installation command.

1.1.1.3. Fast DDS Python

eProsima Fast DDS Python is a Python binding for the eProsima Fast DDS C++ library. It is only required for the remote controller application.

Clone the Github repository into the eProsima DDS Record & Replay workspace and compile it with colcon as a dependency package. Use the following command to download the code:

git clone https://github.com/eProsima/Fast-DDS-python.git src/Fast-DDS-python

1.1.1.4. Gtest

Gtest is a unit testing library for C++. By default, eProsima DDS Record & Replay does not compile tests. It is possible to activate them with the opportune CMake options when calling colcon or CMake. For more details, please refer to the CMake options section. For a detailed description of the Gtest installation process, please refer to the Gtest Installation Guide.

It is also possible to clone the Gtest Github repository into the eProsima DDS Record & Replay workspace and compile it with colcon as a dependency package. Use the following command to download the code:

git clone --branch release-1.11.0 https://github.com/google/googletest src/googletest-distribution

1.1.2. Dependencies

eProsima DDS Record & Replay has the following dependencies, when installed from sources in a Linux environment:

1.1.2.1. Asio and TinyXML2 libraries

Asio is a cross-platform C++ library for network and low-level I/O programming, which provides a consistent asynchronous model. TinyXML2 is a simple, small and efficient C++ XML parser. Install these libraries using the package manager of the appropriate Linux distribution. For example, on Ubuntu use the command:

sudo apt install libasio-dev libtinyxml2-dev

1.1.2.2. OpenSSL

OpenSSL is a robust toolkit for the TLS and SSL protocols and a general-purpose cryptography library. Install OpenSSL using the package manager of the appropriate Linux distribution. For example, on Ubuntu use the command:

sudo apt install libssl-dev

1.1.2.3. yaml-cpp

yaml-cpp is a YAML parser and emitter in C++ matching the YAML 1.2 spec, and is used by DDS Record & Replay application to parse the provided configuration files. Install yaml-cpp using the package manager of the appropriate Linux distribution. For example, on Ubuntu use the command:

sudo apt install libyaml-cpp-dev

1.1.2.4. SWIG

SWIG is a software development tool that connects programs written in C and C++ with a variety of high-level programming languages. It is leveraged by Fast DDS Python to generate a Python wrapper over Fast DDS library. SWIG is only a requirement for the remote controller application. It can be installed using the package manager of the appropriate Linux distribution. For example, on Ubuntu use the command:

sudo apt install swig libpython3-dev

1.1.2.5. PyQt6

The eProsima DDS Record & Replay remote controller is a graphical user interface application implemented in Python using PyQt6. To install PyQt6 simply run:

pip3 install PyQt6

Note

To install PyQt6 on Ubuntu 20.04, update pip and setuptools packages first.

python3 -m pip install pip setuptools --upgrade

1.1.2.6. MCAP dependencies

MCAP is a modular container format and logging library for pub/sub messages with arbitrary message serialization. It is primarily intended for use in robotics applications, and works well under various workloads, resource constraints, and durability requirements. MCAP C++ library is packed within DDS Record & Replay as a header-only, but its dependencies need to be installed using the package manager of the appropriate Linux distribution. For example, on Ubuntu use the command:

sudo apt install liblz4-dev libzstd-dev

Note

To work with MCAP files via command line interface, you can use MCAP CLI <https://mcap.dev/guides/cli> _ to manage the data in MCAP files.

1.1.2.7. eProsima dependencies

If it already exists in the system an installation of Fast DDS and DDS Pipe libraries, just source this libraries when building eProsima DDS Record & Replay by running the following commands. In other case, just skip this step.

source <fastdds-installation-path>/install/setup.bash
source <ddspipe-installation-path>/install/setup.bash

1.3. CMake installation

This section explains how to compile eProsima DDS Record & Replay with CMake, either locally or globally.

1.3.1. Local installation

  1. Create a DDS-Record-Replay directory where to download and build DDS Record & Replay and its dependencies:

    mkdir -p ~/DDS-Record-Replay/src
    mkdir -p ~/DDS-Record-Replay/build
    cd ~/DDS-Record-Replay
    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eProsima/DDS-Record-Replay/main/ddsrecordreplay.repos
    vcs import src < ddsrecordreplay.repos
    
  2. Compile all dependencies using CMake.

    • Foonathan memory

      cd ~/DDS-Record-Replay
      mkdir build/foonathan_memory_vendor
      cd build/foonathan_memory_vendor
      cmake ~/DDS-Record-Replay/src/foonathan_memory_vendor -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON
      cmake --build . --target install
      
    • Fast CDR

      cd ~/DDS-Record-Replay
      mkdir build/fastcdr
      cd build/fastcdr
      cmake ~/DDS-Record-Replay/src/fastcdr -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install
      cmake --build . --target install
      
    • Fast DDS

      cd ~/DDS-Record-Replay
      mkdir build/fastdds
      cd build/fastdds
      cmake ~/DDS-Record-Replay/src/fastdds -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install
      cmake --build . --target install
      
    • Dev Utils

      # CMake Utils
      cd ~/DDS-Record-Replay
      mkdir build/cmake_utils
      cd build/cmake_utils
      cmake ~/DDS-Record-Replay/src/dev-utils/cmake_utils -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install
      cmake --build . --target install
      
      # C++ Utils
      cd ~/DDS-Record-Replay
      mkdir build/cpp_utils
      cd build/cpp_utils
      cmake ~/DDS-Record-Replay/src/dev-utils/cpp_utils -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install
      cmake --build . --target install
      
    • DDS Pipe

      # ddspipe_core
      cd ~/DDS-Record-Replay
      mkdir build/ddspipe_core
      cd build/ddspipe_core
      cmake ~/DDS-Record-Replay/src/ddspipe/ddspipe_core -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install
      cmake --build . --target install
      
      # ddspipe_participants
      cd ~/DDS-Record-Replay
      mkdir build/ddspipe_participants
      cd build/ddspipe_participants
      cmake ~/DDS-Record-Replay/src/ddspipe/ddspipe_participants -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install
      cmake --build . --target install
      
      # ddspipe_yaml
      cd ~/DDS-Record-Replay
      mkdir build/ddspipe_yaml
      cd build/ddspipe_yaml
      cmake ~/DDS-Record-Replay/src/ddspipe/ddspipe_yaml -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install
      cmake --build . --target install
      
  3. Once all dependencies are installed, install eProsima DDS Record & Replay:

    # ddsrecorder_participants
    cd ~/DDS-Record-Replay
    mkdir build/ddsrecorder_participants
    cd build/ddsrecorder_participants
    cmake ~/DDS-Record-Replay/src/ddsrecorder/ddsrecorder_participants -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install
    cmake --build . --target install
    
    # ddsrecorder_yaml
    cd ~/DDS-Record-Replay
    mkdir build/ddsrecorder_yaml
    cd build/ddsrecorder_yaml
    cmake ~/DDS-Record-Replay/src/ddsrecorder/ddsrecorder_yaml -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install
    cmake --build . --target install
    
    # ddsrecorder
    cd ~/DDS-Record-Replay
    mkdir build/ddsrecorder_tool
    cd build/ddsrecorder_tool
    cmake ~/DDS-Record-Replay/src/ddsrecorder/ddsrecorder -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install
    cmake --build . --target install
    
    # ddsreplayer
    cd ~/DDS-Record-Replay
    mkdir build/ddsreplayer_tool
    cd build/ddsreplayer_tool
    cmake ~/DDS-Record-Replay/src/ddsrecorder/ddsreplayer -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install
    cmake --build . --target install
    

    Note

    By default, eProsima DDS Record & Replay does not compile tests. However, they can be activated by downloading and installing Gtest and building with CMake option -DBUILD_TESTS=ON.

  4. Optionally, install the remote controller application along with its dependency Fast DDS Python:

    # Fast DDS Python
    cd ~/DDS-Record-Replay
    mkdir build/fastdds_python
    cd build/fastdds_python
    cmake ~/DDS-Record-Replay/src/Fast-DDS-python/fastdds_python -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install
    cmake --build . --target install
    
    # Remote Controller Application
    cd ~/DDS-Record-Replay
    mkdir build/controller_tool
    cd build/controller_tool
    cmake ~/DDS-Record-Replay/src/ddsrecorder/controller/controller_tool -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/DDS-Record-Replay/install -DBUILD_DDSRECORDER_CONTROLLER=ON
    cmake --build . --target install
    

1.3.2. Global installation

To install eProsima DDS Record & Replay system-wide instead of locally, remove all the flags that appear in the configuration steps of Fast-CDR, Fast-DDS, Dev-Utils, DDS-Pipe, and DDS-Record-Replay, and change the first in the configuration step of foonathan_memory_vendor to the following:

-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local/ -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON

1.4. Run an application

To run the DDS Recorder tool, source the installation path and execute the executable file that has been installed in <install-path>/ddsrecorder_tool/bin/ddsrecorder:

# If built has been done using colcon, all projects could be sourced as follows
source install/setup.bash
./<install-path>/ddsrecorder_tool/bin/ddsrecorder

Likewise, to run the DDS Replay tool, source the installation path and execute the executable file that has been installed in <install-path>/ddsreplayer_tool/bin/ddsreplayer:

# If built has been done using colcon, all projects could be sourced as follows
source install/setup.bash
./<install-path>/ddsreplayer_tool/bin/ddsreplayer

Be sure that these executables have execution permissions.