Changes to ROS Debian Science Support packages
As we gear up for the exciting release of Ubuntu 24.04 and ROS 2 Jazzy Jalisco, we wanted to keep our community informed about small changes that might affect those installing ROS, packaged from the Debian Science initiative, from Universe.
Who is impacted?
First things first, if you’re a user of ROS upstream you can breathe easy – these changes do not impact you. Feel free to stop reading here and continue building great robotics products.
This is only relevant to those who were planning to install ROS Debian Science packages from Universe in Ubuntu 24.04 or onwards. ROS Debian Science is a repackaged freeze of ROS upstream intended to be used in Debian.
What’s changing for ROS Debian Science users?
With the upcoming Ubuntu 24.04 LTS release, we’re adjusting our approach to the ROS Debian Science packages. Specifically, we will no longer include these packages in the Ubuntu Universe repository, starting with 24.04.
We are taking this decision because we have seen the ROS community struggling with this repository (see related posts in ros discourse [1],[2],[3]). Besides, the ROS maintainers encourage users to follow the official upstream installation process of ROS. Because of these, we have deemed it unnecessary to keep ROS Debian Science packages in Universe.
You can expect the official installation path for ROS 2, as outlined in the ROS 2 documentation, to work perfectly on Ubuntu 24.04 and onward.
No changes on Ubuntu 20.04/22.04
If you’re using ROS Debian Science packages from Universe on Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04 or 23.10, rest assured, nothing changes for you. Your workflow remains as is.
We’re here for you
If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, reply to this post. Together, we’re excited to continue building a bright future in the world of robotics with ROS and Ubuntu.