Ubuntu (binary)

This page explains how to install ROS 2 on Ubuntu Linux from a pre-built binary package.

Note

The pre-built binary does not include all ROS 2 packages. All packages in the ROS base variant are included, and only a subset of packages in the ROS desktop variant are included. The exact list of packages are described by the repositories listed in this ros2.repos file.

There are also deb packages available.

System requirements 

We currently support Ubuntu Noble (24.04) 64-bit x86 and 64-bit ARM.

System setup 

Set locale 

Make sure you have a locale which supports UTF-8. If you are in a minimal environment (such as a docker container), the locale may be something minimal like POSIX. We test with the following settings. However, it should be fine if you’re using a different UTF-8 supported locale.

locale  # check for UTF-8

sudo apt update && sudo apt install locales
sudo locale-gen en_US en_US.UTF-8
sudo update-locale LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

locale  # verify settings

Enable required repositories 

You will need to add the ROS 2 apt repository to your system.

First ensure that the Ubuntu Universe repository is enabled.

sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository universe

Now add the ROS 2 GPG key with apt.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install curl -y
sudo curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/ros.key -o /usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg

Then add the repository to your sources list.

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg] http://packages.ros.org/ros2/ubuntu $(. /etc/os-release && echo $UBUNTU_CODENAME) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros2.list > /dev/null

Install prerequisites 

There are a few packages that must be installed in order to get and unpack the binary release.

sudo apt install tar bzip2 wget -y

Install development tools (optional)

If you are going to build ROS packages or otherwise do development, you can also install the development tools:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install ros-dev-tools

Install ROS 2 

Go to the releases page
Download the latest package for Ubuntu; let’s assume that it ends up at ~/Downloads/ros2-package-linux-x86_64.tar.bz2.
- Note: there may be more than one binary download option which might cause the file name to differ.

Unpack it:

mkdir -p ~/ros2_rolling
cd ~/ros2_rolling
tar xf ~/Downloads/ros2-package-linux-x86_64.tar.bz2

Install dependencies using rosdep 

ROS 2 packages are built on frequently updated Ubuntu systems. It is always recommended that you ensure your system is up to date before installing new packages.

sudo apt upgrade

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y python3-rosdep
sudo rosdep init
rosdep update
rosdep install --from-paths ~/ros2_rolling/ros2-linux/share --ignore-src -y --skip-keys "cyclonedds fastcdr fastrtps iceoryx_binding_c rmw_connextdds rti-connext-dds-6.0.1 urdfdom_headers"

Note: If you’re using a distribution that is based on Ubuntu (like Linux Mint) but does not identify itself as such, you’ll get an error message like Unsupported OS [mint]. In this case append --os=ubuntu:noble to the above command.

Install additional RMW implementations (optional)

The default middleware that ROS 2 uses is Fast DDS, but the middleware (RMW) can be replaced at runtime. See the guide on how to work with multiple RMWs.

Setup environment 

Set up your environment by sourcing the following file.

# Replace ".bash" with your shell if you're not using bash
# Possible values are: setup.bash, setup.sh, setup.zsh
. ~/ros2_rolling/ros2-linux/setup.bash

Try some examples 

In one terminal, source the setup file and then run a C++ talker:

. ~/ros2_rolling/ros2-linux/setup.bash
ros2 run demo_nodes_cpp talker

In another terminal source the setup file and then run a Python listener:

. ~/ros2_rolling/ros2-linux/setup.bash
ros2 run demo_nodes_py listener

You should see the talker saying that it’s Publishing messages and the listener saying I heard those messages. This verifies both the C++ and Python APIs are working properly. Hooray!

If you installed your workspace with colcon as instructed above, “uninstalling” could be just a matter of opening a new terminal and not sourcing the workspace’s setup file. This way, your environment will behave as though there is no Rolling install on your system.
If you’re also trying to free up space, you can delete the entire workspace directory with:
```
rm -rf ~/ros2_rolling
```