Overview

OpenCV in Electric

Starting in ROS Electric, OpenCV can now be used with ROS as a rosdep system dependency. The opencv2 ROS package is still provided for backwards compatibility, but will be removed in future releases.

The instructions below will guide you through configuring your ROS packages to use the OpenCV rosdep system dependency.

Migrating from Diamondback

Please transition away from using <depend package="opencv2" /> to link against OpenCV in your packages. Standard CMake mechanisms (e.g. find_package()) are now the preferred way of linking against OpenCV.

CMakeLists.txt

For convenience, the system install includes CMake config files for easily finding and configuring OpenCV in your CMakeLists.txt using the normal find_package() macro:

find_package(OpenCV REQUIRED)
#define some target ...
target_link_libraries(my_target ${OpenCV_LIBRARIES})

Package/stack dependencies

When on Fuerte releasing for Electric

You just need the following:

1. manifest.xml

     <rosdep name="opencv2"/>

When on Electric releasing for Electric

The OpenCV rosdep is defined in the vision_opencv stack. You may depend on OpenCV by adding the following:

1. manifest.xml

     <depend package="cv_bridge" />
   
     <rosdep name="opencv2.3"/>

2. stack.xml

     <depend stack="vision_opencv" />

Getting OpenCV

If you have updated your package and stack files following the directions above, you can simply type:

rosdep install <your-package>

and rosdep will automatically bring in the appropriate OpenCV for your system.

Manual apt-get install

If you need to install OpenCV manually on Ubuntu, please follow the instructions below.

1. Verify that you have the latest ROS sources added to apt. See the section Setting up sources

2. Install libopencv2.3-dev with apt.

   • sudo apt-get update
     sudo apt-get install libopencv2.3-dev

find_package(OpenCV REQUIRED)
#define some target ...
target_link_libraries(my_target ${OpenCV_LIBS})

rosdep install <your-package>

$ rosversion opencv2