[Portability] ros-humble-rosidl-generator-dds-idl is available for x64 Linux only

[ubgk]

Currently, mamba env create -f go2_control_interface/environment.yaml fails on macOS as ros-humble-rosidl-generator-dds-idl is not available for ARM macOS (or any platform other than x64 Linux AFAICT).

I propose we treat this as a vcs dependency and build from source like others. I will submit a PR to this effect if you agree.

[fabinsch]

I also ran into this issue right now

[EtienneAr]

Ok, so I've tested and installing ros-humble-rosidl-generator-dds-idl from source seems to work:

You can git clone the repository from https://github.com/ros2/rosidl_dds, checkout the humble branch, and build it when you build cyclonedds using the command colcon build --packages-select cyclonedds rosidl_generator_dds_idl.

However, there's another problematic library to address. The seem to be a problem when we import the unitree_sdk2py, which has to be installed via pip -.-. We use this lib for several things:

• Computing the CRC (error correction value) before sending messages to the robot. This could be worked around with some effort, as the CRC generation code is not overly complex and could be re-implemented - by us - cleanly elsewhere.
• Managing the robot mode (e.g., disabling Unitree controllers to use our own). This task doesn't necessarily need to be performed on the same machine because it only needs to be done once when starting the robot, and then it's set for the day. However, it's inconvenient to be forced to use another computer connected to the robot for this script, then reconnect the robot to the Mac. Ideally, we could use our Steam Deck to do this seamlessly for the user over a WiFi connection. This would require some work to create a repeatable and robust app...

[fabinsch]

We have mentioned this issue in RoboStack/ros-humble#165 (comment), and it got fixed by an ongoing PR RoboStack/ros-humble#320. You can now get ros-humble-rosidl-generator-dds-idl on all platforms.