Converting Specific Workspaces to Docker Modules

[j3soon]

Configurable docker modules are introduced in #75 for removing/adding certain modules/components inside the docker image.

By this method, I think we can somehow convert cartographer_ws, gazebo_world_ws, rtabmap_ws, vlp_ws into modules and remove the workspace. We can then directly use the template_ws for testing purposes. We may also add modules for realsense, slamtoolbox and other tools.

Assets used in these workspaces (such as gazebo assets) can be moved under template_ws (such as template_ws/gazebo) for simplicity. The create_workspace.sh script may need to be modified accordingly to ignore these file though.

@YuZhong-Chen and @Assume-Zhan, would like to hear your thoughts on this.

[YuZhong-Chen]

The current architecture is excellent, and the readability of the Dockerfile has improved significantly. I will apply the same approach to install ROS in the Docker container later and switch the base image to Ubuntu.

Regarding the other workspaces, I think placing some of them into template_ws is a good idea.
I will start working on this when I have time.

[YuZhong-Chen]

By the way, I'd like to discuss whether we should add a .env file to the docker folder. This would allow us to specify COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME or COMPOSE_IGNORE_ORPHANS, which could help us avoid the annoying warning that pops up every time when we use docker compose.

Reference: https://stackoverflow.com/a/63539983

[j3soon]

By the way, I'd like to discuss whether we should add a .env file to the docker folder. This would allow us to specify COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME or COMPOSE_IGNORE_ORPHANS, which could help us avoid the annoying warning that pops up every time when we use docker compose.

Reference: https://stackoverflow.com/a/63539983

I'm not against using a .env file. However, I think the two cases you mentioned may be handled in a different way.

For project name, I think we can add a top-level name entry in the compose file?

See:

• https://docs.docker.com/compose/how-tos/project-name/#set-a-project-name
• https://docs.docker.com/reference/compose-file/version-and-name/#name-top-level-element

As for orphans, I think it's better to address it using docker compose down --remove-orphans?

https://github.com/j3soon/ros2-essentials/tree/main?tab=readme-ov-file#docker-compose-cleanup

Let me know if I overlooked anything, thanks.

[j3soon]

The current architecture is excellent, and the readability of the Dockerfile has improved significantly. I will apply the same approach to install ROS in the Docker container later and switch the base image to Ubuntu.

Regarding the other workspaces, I think placing some of them into template_ws is a good idea. I will start working on this when I have time.

Can also add an ARG for switching to CycloneDDS.

[j3soon]

As discussed offline with @YuZhong-Chen and @Assume-Zhan, additional modules (such as rtabmap) can be converted into packages in the template workspace under template_ws/src (e.g., as rtabmap_pkg or rtabmap_examples).

In the future, these packages can optionally be linked to other workspaces as needed.