Setting Up the Dev Container to use ROS2 Workspace

This repository contains a ready-to-use ROS 2 Humble workspace inside a VS Code Dev Container.
It ensures that everyone has the same development environment without worrying about operating system differences.

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Prerequisites

1. Visual Studio Code

2. Docker

For Windows:

• To ensure the installation, open PowerShell and docker --version should print the docker version.
• During installation, enable WSL2 backend.
• After installation, open Docker Desktop → Settings → Resources → WSL Integration → enable your Ubuntu distribution.

For Linux:

• Install Docker Engine following official instructions: Install Docker Engine on Ubuntu

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Docker Permission Notes

Sometimes running Docker commands may fail with a permission denied error:

docker: permission denied while trying to connect to the Docker daemon socket at unix:///var/run/docker.sock

This happens when your user doesn’t have access to the Docker daemon.

Linux Solution

1. Add your user to the docker group:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

2. Apply the new group membership:

newgrp docker

3. Test Docker:

docker run hello-world

💡 You may need to log out and log back in (or restart VS Code) for the changes to take effect. if the issue still presists on VS Code:

1. Open your terminal
2. Navigate to your cloned repo directory

3. newgrp docker
   docker run hello-world
   code .

Windows Solution (WSL2 / Docker Desktop)

• Ensure your WSL2 Ubuntu distribution is enabled in Docker Desktop:
  1. Open Docker Desktop → Settings → Resources → WSL Integration.
  2. Enable your Ubuntu distribution.
• Restart your VS Code or open a new terminal inside the WSL2 Ubuntu session.
• Test Docker:

docker run hello-world

✅ After following these steps, your user should be able to run Docker commands without sudo (Linux) or permission issues (Windows WSL2).

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3. Install VS Code Extensions

• Dev Containers
• Docker

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📂 Getting Started

1. Clone this Repository

git clone <your-repo-link>
cd <repo-name>

2. Open in VS Code

• Open the repo folder in VS Code.

• Press Ctrl+Shift+P → search for Dev Containers: Rebuild and Reopen in Container.

• Wait while Docker builds the image (first build may take ~10–15 minutes).

• Once you're connected, notice the green remote indicator on the left of the Status bar to show you are inside the dev container:

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Using the Workspace

1. Open the Workspace

By default, your ROS 2 workspace is located at:

~/ros2_ws

2. Build the Workspace

cd ~/ros2_ws
colcon build
source install/setup.bash

💡 Tip: Add this line to your ~/.bashrc so ROS 2 sources automatically in every terminal:

source ~/ros2_ws/install/setup.bash

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To Ensure ROS2 Installation

Run this command:

echo $ROS_DISTRO