ament_cmake_python user documentation

ament_cmake_python is a package that provides CMake functions for packages of the ament_cmake build type that contain Python code. See the ament_cmake user documentation for more information.

Note

Pure Python packages should use the ament_python build type in most cases. To create an ament_python package, see Creating your first ROS 2 package. ament_cmake_python should only be used in cases where that is not possible, like when mixing C/C++ and Python code.

Basics

Basic project outline

The outline of a package called “my_project” with the ament_cmake build type that uses ament_cmake_python looks like:

.
└── my_project
    ├── CMakeLists.txt
    ├── package.xml
    └── my_project
        ├── __init__.py
        └── my_script.py

The __init__.py file can be empty, but it is needed to make Python treat the directory containing it as a package. There can also be a src or include directory alongside the CMakeLists.txt which holds C/C++ code.

Using ament_cmake_python

The package must declare a dependency on ament_cmake_python in its package.xml.

<buildtool_depend>ament_cmake_python</buildtool_depend>

The CMakeLists.txt should contain:

find_package(ament_cmake_python REQUIRED)
# ...
ament_python_install_package(${PROJECT_NAME})

The argument to ament_python_install_package() is the name of the directory alongside the CMakeLists.txt that contains the Python file. In this case, it is my_project, or ${PROJECT_NAME}.

Then, another Python package that correctly depends on my_project can use it as a normal Python module:

from my_project.my_script import my_function

Assuming my_script.py contains a function called my_function().