Docker image creation

Create a Docker image to run Voxblox and the AprilTag detection on Ubuntu Xenial for x86_64 architecture with all required dependencies.

Download the source code

Update the git submodules:

git submodule update --init --recursive     # the first time this repo is cloned
git submodule update --recursive --remote   # to simply update 

Download Voxblox and its dependencies:

./pull_source.sh 

Build the image

cd ~/path/to/docker-xenial-kinetic 
docker build -t xenial-kinetic:v1.0 -f Dockerfile .

Tag the image

docker tag xenial-kinetic:v1.0 kinetic-amd

Run the Docker image

docker run -it --rm --privileged --net=host --name xenial-kinetic -v /home/$(whoami)/docker-xenial-kinetic/:/home/user/:rw -w /home/user/ kinetic-amd /bin/bash

The following table briefly explains the arguments, as presented here:

Argument	Description
-it	Interactive mode, usually used when you wish to open a bash shell inside the docker.
–rm	Automatically remove the container when it exits to prevent containers stacking up.
–privileged	Gives the docker container access to /dev/
–net=host	Lets network interfaces appear the same inside and outside of the docker container.
–name {name}	Give a name to the running instance so you can identify and attach to it by name.
-v {outside}:{inside}:rw	Mounts a directory outside the container to a directory inside the container.
-w {working_dir}	Set the working directory inside the container.

Initialize the workspace

Initialize the workspace and download Voxblox:

./init_workspace.sh 

Build the packages

cd ./catkin_ws
catkin build

Update CMake from the container

WARNING: Only perform these steps if a problem occurs during the compilation of the apriltag packages! Support for cmake 3.0.5+ was recently added, which satisfies the system's cmake version 3.5.1 of the Docker image.

Ubuntu Xenial is limited to cmake version 3.5.1. However older versions of apriltag and apriltag_ros need cmake >= 3.10. A new cmake version therefore needs to be installed from source. To do so, start the container and clone the cmake source somewhere in the mounted volume to get the last cmake version:

cd ./catkin_ws/ 
git clone https://github.com/Kitware/CMake.git
cd CMake

Build and install cmake according to their documentation from the container:

$ ./bootstrap && make && sudo make install

This will build and install the new cmake version and overwrite the system's default cmake in the container.