Having trouble building custom ROS msgs in MATLAB 2020a

Hi,

I am having trouble building custom ROS msgs and adding them to availabe msg definitions in MATLAB.

I followed this tutorial - https://se.mathworks.com/help/ros/ug/create-custom-messages-from-ros-package.html

I am getting the follwing error.

Building custom message files for the following packages:
   carla_common
   carla_msgs
   carla_ros_bridge
 
:rosjava_messages is spawning subprojects: [carla_common, carla_msgs, carla_ros_bridge]
Creating properties on demand (a.k.a. dynamic properties) has been deprecated and is scheduled to be removed in Gradle 2.0. Please read http://gradle.org/docs/current/dsl/org.gradle.api.plugins.ExtraPropertiesExtension.html for information on the replacement for dynamic properties.
Deprecated dynamic property: "mavenRepository" on "org.ros.gradle_plugins.RosPluginExtension_Decorated@6aef4eb8", value: "".
Deprecated dynamic property "mavenRepository" created in multiple locations.
:carla_common:bugfixtask
:carla_common:generateSources
:carla_common:compileJava UP-TO-DATE
:carla_common:processResources UP-TO-DATE
:carla_common:classes UP-TO-DATE
:carla_common:jar
:carla_common:assemble
:carla_common:compileTestJava UP-TO-DATE
:carla_common:processTestResources UP-TO-DATE
:carla_common:testClasses UP-TO-DATE
:carla_common:test UP-TO-DATE
:carla_common:check UP-TO-DATE
:carla_common:build
:carla_msgs:bugfixtask
:carla_msgs:generateSources
:carla_msgs:compileJavawarning: [options] bootstrap class path not set in conjunction with -source 1.6
/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/autonomous-overtaking/matlab_gen/build/rosjava_build/carla_msgs/build/generated-src/carla_msgs/CarlaEgoVehicleStatus.java:12: error: cannot find symbol
  geometry_msgs.Accel getAcceleration();
               ^
  symbol:   class Accel
  location: package geometry_msgs
/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/autonomous-overtaking/matlab_gen/build/rosjava_build/carla_msgs/build/generated-src/carla_msgs/CarlaEgoVehicleStatus.java:13: error: cannot find symbol
  void setAcceleration(geometry_msgs.Accel value);
                                    ^
  symbol:   class Accel
  location: package geometry_msgs
2 errors
1 warning
 FAILED

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':carla_msgs:compileJava'.
> Compilation failed; see the compiler error output for details.

* Try:
Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace. Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output.

BUILD FAILED

Total time: 2.958 secs

An error occurred while building custom messages. See the full error message above.
Possible reasons for the error:
1. The msg or srv files may have syntax errors.
2. The dependencies on other message packages may not be declared correctly in the build_depends tags in the package.xml.
3. Messages packages declared as dependencies may not be available.
4. The custom message packages may be missing a build dependency on "message_generation".

See the ROS Custom Messages documentation for more information.

I figured that the geometry_msgs available in MATLAB are old and don't contain new definitons, therefore I built the geometry_msgs alone forst and added it to the MATLAB. I am able to see them in the rosmsg list

geometry_msgs/Accel                                            
geometry_msgs/AccelStamped                                     
geometry_msgs/AccelWithCovariance                              
geometry_msgs/AccelWithCovarianceStamped                       
geometry_msgs/Inertia                                          
geometry_msgs/InertiaStamped                                   
geometry_msgs/Point                                            
geometry_msgs/Point                                            
geometry_msgs/Point32                                          
geometry_msgs/Point32                                          
geometry_msgs/PointStamped                                     
geometry_msgs/PointStamped                                     
geometry_msgs/Polygon                                          
geometry_msgs/Polygon                                          
geometry_msgs/PolygonStamped                                   
geometry_msgs/PolygonStamped                                   
geometry_msgs/Pose                                             
geometry_msgs/Pose                                             
geometry_msgs/Pose2D                                           
geometry_msgs/Pose2D                                           
geometry_msgs/PoseArray                                        
geometry_msgs/PoseArray                                        
geometry_msgs/PoseStamped                                      
geometry_msgs/PoseStamped                                      
geometry_msgs/PoseWithCovariance                               
geometry_msgs/PoseWithCovariance                               
geometry_msgs/PoseWithCovarianceStamped                        
geometry_msgs/PoseWithCovarianceStamped                        
geometry_msgs/Quaternion                                       
geometry_msgs/Quaternion                                       
geometry_msgs/QuaternionStamped                                
geometry_msgs/QuaternionStamped                                
geometry_msgs/Transform                                        
geometry_msgs/Transform                                        
geometry_msgs/TransformStamped                                 
geometry_msgs/TransformStamped                                 
geometry_msgs/Twist                                            
geometry_msgs/Twist                                            
geometry_msgs/TwistStamped                                     
geometry_msgs/TwistStamped                                     
geometry_msgs/TwistWithCovariance                              
geometry_msgs/TwistWithCovariance                              
geometry_msgs/TwistWithCovarianceStamped                       
geometry_msgs/TwistWithCovarianceStamped                       
geometry_msgs/Vector3                                          
geometry_msgs/Vector3                                          
geometry_msgs/Vector3Stamped                                   
geometry_msgs/Vector3Stamped                                   
geometry_msgs/Wrench                                           
geometry_msgs/Wrench                                           
geometry_msgs/WrenchStamped                                    
geometry_msgs/WrenchStamped

I am still getting the error when building. Please let me know what I am doing wrong

Answer 1

[Cam Salzberger]

Hello Jiyo,

Seeing each of the geometry_msgs show up twice is rosmsg list is indicative of an issue, not the building of it working. If you need to override existing message definitions, there is a different procedure to follow. Please see these steps for details.

Alternatively, you may be able to just add the new geometry_msgs messages that were missing (e.g. Accel), if it is acceptable to keep the old definitions for the existing messages.

-Cam

[Jiyo Palatti]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply. I followed the instructions but i still get 2 definitions of geometry_mgs and it doesn't seem to overide the existing message definitons.

My javaclasspath.txt looks like this

<before>
/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/common_msgs/matlab_gen/jar/actionlib_msgs-1.13.0.jar
<before>
/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/common_msgs/matlab_gen/jar/common_msgs-1.13.0.jar
<before>
/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/common_msgs/matlab_gen/jar/diagnostic_msgs-1.13.0.jar
<before>
/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/common_msgs/matlab_gen/jar/geometry_msgs-1.13.0.jar
<before>
/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/common_msgs/matlab_gen/jar/nav_msgs-1.13.0.jar
<before>
/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/common_msgs/matlab_gen/jar/sensor_msgs-1.13.0.jar
<before>
/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/common_msgs/matlab_gen/jar/shape_msgs-1.13.0.jar
<before>
/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/common_msgs/matlab_gen/jar/stereo_msgs-1.13.0.jar
<before>
/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/common_msgs/matlab_gen/jar/trajectory_msgs-1.13.0.jar
<before>
/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/common_msgs/matlab_gen/jar/visualization_msgs-1.13.0.jar

I have also tried with one <before> tag before the path definitions.

Please let me know if I made a mistake.

P.S. - Other users also seem face the issue of not being able to replace the existing definitions.

https://se.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/539627-updating-ros-controller_manager_msgs-to-melodic

[Jiyo Palatti]

Please let me know if there is a solution to this problem that I am facing. I dependent on the new geometry_msgs definiton to be able to build custom ROS messages (CARLA simulator ROS msgs) for my project.

Links

ROS Msgs - https://github.com/ros/common_msgs

CARLA ROS msgs - https://github.com/carla-simulator/ros-carla-msgs/tree/c89458b34aefbe7e12cefe3241c3b48f4a9b35d7

[Cam Salzberger]

Hello Jiyo,

• I'm not sure why you are running into this issue. When I tested following these steps to replace geometry_msgs, I also saw the double messages listed in "rosmsg list", but everything else was usuable. Just to be completely clear, here are the steps I followed:
• Add geometry_msgs package to my current directory
• Checked to make sure package.xml was in format 1
• Ran:

rosgenmsg(pwd)

• Edited the javaclasspath.txt file that was linked from the instructions
• Added these lines to the file:

<before>
C:\path\to\folder\matlab_gen\jar\geometry_msgs-1.13.0.jar

• Restarted MATLAB
• Deleted the folder matlab_gen\msggen\+ros\+custom\+msggen\+geometry_msgs. Note that this is slightly different than the instructions in the link, as there used to be a +robotics package folder before ROS Toolbox became its own thing.
• Reran

rosgenmsg(pwd)

• Restarted MATLAB
• Added the new message definitions MATLAB files to path (you probably want to do savepath as well):

addpath('C:\path\to\folder\matlab_gen\msggen')

• Rehashed all MATLAB files including those in the toolbox to make sure newest definitions are being picked up (this is also slightly different from the linked instructions):

rehash toolboxcache

• Tested creating a geometry_msgs/Accel message object, which worked
• Added carla_msgs package to current folder. To be clear, you could probably have added carla_msgs in during the second run of rosgenmsg, but I wanted to do this as cleanly as possible.
• Checked that it used package.xml format 1 as well
• Ran:

rosgenmsg(pwd)

• Updated javaclasspath.txt again so it now looks like:

<before>
C:\path\to\folder\matlab_gen\jar\geometry_msgs-1.13.0.jar
C:\path\to\folder\matlab_gen\jar\carla_msgs-1.0.1.jar

• Restarted MATLAB
• Made sure the "matlab_gen\msggen" folder was still on the path (I had to add it again, but if you saved the path, it should be fine)
• Rehashed the toolbox again, just to be sure:

rehash toolboxcache

• Created an instance of a carla_msgs/CarlaActorList message

So if you could try again, adding the new geometry_msgs definitions in first. Make sure that you are restarting MATLAB after adding the JAR files to the javaclasspath, then delete the MATLAB files and rerun rosgenmsg. Only after you confirm that geometry_msgs works fine, please then add carla_msgs.

If that still doesn't do the trick, then it may be a platform-specific issue. Are you on Linux or Mac, and which version?

-Cam

[Jiyo Palatti]

Hi Cam,

Thanks for your reply.

I tried your steps again. I am able generate custom ROS msgs for geometry_msgs.

I am also able to create a geometry_msgs/Accel message object using

msg = rosmessage('geometry_msgs/Accel')

But when I next tried to generate custom ROs custom msgs for carla package, I get the following error.

Checking subfolder "carla_msgs" for custom messages.
 
Building custom message files for the following packages:
   carla_msgs
 
:rosjava_messages is spawning subprojects: [carla_msgs]
Creating properties on demand (a.k.a. dynamic properties) has been deprecated and is scheduled to be removed in Gradle 2.0. Please read http://gradle.org/docs/current/dsl/org.gradle.api.plugins.ExtraPropertiesExtension.html for information on the replacement for dynamic properties.
Deprecated dynamic property: "mavenRepository" on "org.ros.gradle_plugins.RosPluginExtension_Decorated@6e1b9411", value: "".
:carla_msgs:bugfixtask
:carla_msgs:generateSources
:carla_msgs:compileJavawarning: [options] bootstrap class path not set in conjunction with -source 1.6
/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/custom_msgs/carla/matlab_gen/build/rosjava_build/carla_msgs/build/generated-src/carla_msgs/CarlaEgoVehicleStatus.java:12: error: cannot find symbol
  geometry_msgs.Accel getAcceleration();
               ^
  symbol:   class Accel
  location: package geometry_msgs
/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/custom_msgs/carla/matlab_gen/build/rosjava_build/carla_msgs/build/generated-src/carla_msgs/CarlaEgoVehicleStatus.java:13: error: cannot find symbol
  void setAcceleration(geometry_msgs.Accel value);
                                    ^
  symbol:   class Accel
  location: package geometry_msgs
2 errors
1 warning
 FAILED

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':carla_msgs:compileJava'.
> Compilation failed; see the compiler error output for details.

* Try:
Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace. Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output.

BUILD FAILED

Total time: 3.915 secs

An error occurred while building custom messages. See the full error message above.
Possible reasons for the error:
1. The msg or srv files may have syntax errors.
2. The dependencies on other message packages may not be declared correctly in the build_depends tags in the package.xml.
3. Messages packages declared as dependencies may not be available.
4. The custom message packages may be missing a build dependency on "message_generation".

See the ROS Custom Messages documentation for more information.

This indicates that the newly generated geometry_msgs doesn't seem to register and subsequent rosgenmsg commands don't pick previously generated msgs.

My javaclasspath.txt is as follows -

<before>
/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/custom_msgs/geometry/matlab_gen/jar/geometry_msgs-1.13.0.jar

Adding the lines to the javaclasspath.txt doesn't seem to make any difference. I removed those lines and restarted MATLAB and tried generating the Accel msg and it still succeeds for some reason.

In regards to your query regarding platform, the detatils are as follows.

OS: Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS

java -version
openjdk version "11.0.7" 2020-04-14
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.7+10-post-Ubuntu-2ubuntu218.04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.7+10-post-Ubuntu-2ubuntu218.04, mixed mode, sharing)

MATLAB version 2019b (also tried with MATLAB 2020a)

Let me know if anymore details are required.

[Cam Salzberger]

Hey Jiyo,

Your folder structure here:

/home/jiyo/workspace/autonomous-overtaking/custom_msgs/geometry/matlab_gen/jar/geometry_msgs-1.13.0.jar

is making me wonder if this is causing an issue. When I initially built the geometry_msgs package, my folder structure looked like:

current_dir/
|-geometry_msgs/
| |-msg/
| | '-".msg" files
| |-CMakeLists.txt
| '-package.xml
'-matlab_gen/

When I added the carla_msgs package, I did so in the same folder as geometry_msgs. Keeping all custom message packages in one folder is recommended here:

At any time, there should only be one custom messages folder on the MATLAB path. This folder can contain multiple packages, but it is recommended that you keep them all in one unique folder.

current_dir/
|-carla_msgs/
|-geometry_msgs/
'-matlab_gen/

I'm thinking it may be possible that splitting it up like this could cause the interdependency finding to fail?

custom_msgs/
|-carla/
| |-carla_msgs/
| '-matlab_gen/
'-geometry/
  |-geometry_msgs/
  '-matlab_gen/

-Cam

[Julius Sustarevas]

Hi Cam,

Can you confirm this works for matlab 2020b?

[Cam Salzberger]

In R2020b, the ability to generate custom messages has been added to ROS Toolbox, so there is no need for the support package. The version of messages that ships with ROS Toolbox has also changed - in R2020b, the ROS Melodic definitions are used. There is no longer any need to update the Java class path after generating custom messages, though the "addpath" call is still required to update the MATLAB search path. Like discussed above, all custom message package folders should be under one parent folder, which is provided to rosgenmsg.

Instead of the support package, R2020b requires Python 2.7, CMake, and a supported compiler installed on your system. See here for more details.

To update the built-in message definitions, you can just use rosgenmsg like any other custom message package.

-Cam

Answer 2

[Jiyo Palatti]

Hi Cam,

The fix you mentioned above has fixed the issue. I moved both of the msgs folder to the same parent directory and msg generation is working.

I was under the impression that once the custom ROS msgs are generated and added to the path (java & matlab), it will be used for future custom ROS msg generation.

Thanks for your help.

[Cam Salzberger]

Hey Jiyo,

I'm glad to hear that resolved the issue. I am not completely sure about the intracacies of rosjava message library generation, but if it is anything like standard catkin and colcon then there is a different rule for message dependencies. Packages that depend on other packages need to all be built in the same build command, or otherwise added to the library path through back-end variables. The library path update can be done for the built-in messages shipping with MATLAB, but any other custom messages with dependencies need to all be together.

It's really just easier to put all custom message packages in the same location to prevent issues like this.

-Cam

Answer 3

[Julius Sustarevas]

Thanks for this, I was able to update visualiation msgs to melodic and send to rviz.

I'd like to submit a feature request for this process to be easier. The different jar files for full ros-desktop-intstall messages could ship with matlab for hydro,indigo,kinetic,melodic. etc. Some type of automatic reloading of different jar files for kinetic, melodic msg definitions.

btw std_msgs do not buil at all using this procedure(I think its the known Header bug)