Package Summary
roslaunch is a tool for easily launching multiple ROS nodes locally and remotely via SSH, as well as setting parameters on the Parameter Server. It includes options to automatically respawn processes that have already died. roslaunch takes in one or more XML configuration files (with the .launch extension) that specify the parameters to set and nodes to launch, as well as the machines that they should be run on.
- Author: Ken Conley/kwc@willowgarage.com
- License: BSD
- Source: git https://github.com/ros/ros_comm.git
Package Summary
roslaunch is a tool for easily launching multiple ROS nodes locally and remotely via SSH, as well as setting parameters on the Parameter Server. It includes options to automatically respawn processes that have already died. roslaunch takes in one or more XML configuration files (with the .launch extension) that specify the parameters to set and nodes to launch, as well as the machines that they should be run on.
- Author: Ken Conley/kwc@willowgarage.com
- License: BSD
- Source: git https://github.com/ros/ros_comm.git
Package Summary
roslaunch is a tool for easily launching multiple ROS nodes locally and remotely via SSH, as well as setting parameters on the Parameter Server. It includes options to automatically respawn processes that have already died. roslaunch takes in one or more XML configuration files (with the .launch extension) that specify the parameters to set and nodes to launch, as well as the machines that they should be run on.
- Maintainer: Dirk Thomas <dthomas@osrfoundation.org>
- Author: Ken Conley
- License: BSD
- Source: git https://github.com/ros/ros_comm.git
Contents
Overview
The roslaunch package contains the roslaunch tools, which reads the roslaunch .launch/XML format. It also contains a variety of other support tools to help you use these files.
Many ROS packages come with "launch files", which you can run with:
$ roslaunch package_name file.launch
These launch files usually bring up a set of nodes for the package that provide some aggregate functionality.
To find out more about the main roslaunch tool and other command-line tools, please consult:
roslaunch uses XML files that describe the nodes that should be run, parameters that should be set, and other attributes of launching a collection of ROS nodes. For a specification of this XML format, please see:
roslaunch was designed to fit the ROS architecture of complexity via composition. Understanding roslaunch's architecture will give you better insight in how to construct your .launch files and better debug remote vs. local launches.
roscore
roscore is a specialization of the roslaunch tool for bringing up the "core" ROS system. For more information, please see the roscore documentation.
Stability/Roadmap
The launch file syntax itself is stable, and every effort will be made to provide backwards compatibility with new features.
The code API of roslaunch is very unstable and should not be used directly. In order to support the new features that are being planned, it may be necessary to make major, incompatible changes to the programmatic API.
There are many new features being planned for roslaunch. These include new features within the launch file syntax, GUI tools for interacting with launch files more effectively, network API, better coordination between separate launch files, and more. The exact timing of these features will depend on current needs and the ROS roadmap should be consulted for more detail.
Ref. SIG for roslaunch