System Prerequisites

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or 20.04 LTS is recommended. Dual-boot setups are strongly advised; virtual machines may fail to support simulation tools like CARLA reliably.

Python Runtime Selection

• Ubuntu 18.04: Default system Python 2.7 is sufficient. Conda environments are optional but useful for project isolation.
• Ubuntu 20.04: Use Conda to create a dedicated Python 3.7 environment, avoiding conflicts with system packages.

Package Repository Configuration

Update /etc/apt/sources.list to use a fast mirror (e.g., Tsinghua University’s archive). Ensure the distribution codename matches your OS:

• For Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic), use bionic-targeted repositories.
• For Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal), use focal sources.

Then refresh package indices:

sudo apt-get update

Complier Toolchain Setup

Install multiple GCC/G++ versions for compatibility across dependencies:

# On Ubuntu 20.04
sudo apt-get install gcc-9 g++-9 gcc-10 g++-10

# On Ubuntu 18.04, install available versions (e.g., gcc-7/g++-7)
sudo apt-get install gcc-7 g++-7

Configure alternatives if needed:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-9 90 --slave /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-9
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-10 100 --slave /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-10

ROS Installation

Install ROS Noetic (for Ubuntu 20.04) or Melodic (for Ubuntu 18.04):

# Example for Noetic
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu $(lsb_release -sc) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver 'hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80' --recv-key C1CF6E31E6BADE8868B172B4F42ED6FBAB17C654
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ros-noetic-desktop-full
source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash

Initialize rosdep:

sudo rosdep init
rosdep update

Numerical Optimization Libraries

OSQP and OSQP-Eigen

Clone and build version-matched releases:

git clone https://gitee.com/xiacanming/osqp-0.5.0.git
cd osqp-0.5.0 && mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

git clone https://gitee.com/xiacanming/osqp-eigen-0.4.1.git
cd osqp-eigen-0.4.1 && mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

ADOL-C and ColPack

Build ColPack first:

git clone https://github.com/CSCsw/ColPack.git
cd ColPack/build/automake
autoreconf -vif
mkdir build && cd build
../configure --prefix=/usr/local
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

Then ADOL-C:

sudo apt-get install libboost-all-dev
git clone -b releases/2.6.3 https://github.com/coin-or/ADOL-C.git
cd ADOL-C
./configure --prefix=/usr/local
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

Verify installation:

ls /usr/local/include/adolc*
ls /usr/local/lib/libadolc*

IPOPT

Prefer binary installation:

sudo apt-get install coinor-libipopt-dev cppad gfortran

qpOASES

Use the provided script or build manually:

git clone https://github.com/coin-or/qpOASES.git
cd qpOASES && mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON ..
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

YAML Parsing Libray

Use yaml-cpp v0.6.0 explicitly:

git clone -b yaml-cpp-0.6.0 https://github.com/jbeder/yaml-cpp.git
cd yaml-cpp && mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

CMake Version Management

If CMake < 3.12 causes build failures, install it locally:

wget https://cmake.org/files/v3.12/cmake-3.12.0.tar.gz
tar -xzf cmake-3.12.0.tar.gz
cd cmake-3.12.0
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/cmake
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install
sudo ln -sf /usr/local/cmake/bin/cmake /usr/bin/cmake

g2o Graph Optimization Library

Required for TEB local planner integration:

sudo apt-get install cmake libeigen3-dev libsuitesparse-dev libqglviewer-dev-qt5

git clone -b 20200410_git https://github.com/RainerKuemmerle/g2o.git
cd g2o && mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

To uninstall:

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/g2o /usr/local/lib/libg2o* /usr/local/bin/g2o* /usr/local/lib/cmake/g2o

Protocol Buffers

Install protobuf 3.12+ from source or via package manager:

sudo apt-get install protobuf-compiler libprotobuf-dev

Or build from source if strict version control is required.

Optional Visualization Support

For plotting in Python 2.7 (Ubuntu 18.04 only):

sudo apt-get install python2.7-dev python-tk
curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/pip/2.7/get-pip.py | sudo python2
sudo pip2 install matplotlib

ROS Workspace Compilation

Ensure message definitions are built before full compilation:

# For ROS 1
catkin build object_msgs waypoint_msgs carla_msgs
catkin build

# For ROS 2
colcon build --packages-select object_msgs waypoint_msgs carla_msgs
colcon build

CARLA Integration (Optional)

CARLA 0.9.11 is compatible with Ubuntu 18.04. Download the appropriate release binary and configure CARLA_ROOT. Launch with:

$CARLA_ROOT/CarlaUE4.sh -opengl

Set environment variables in your shell profile:

export CARLA_ROOT=/path/to/CarlaUE4
export PYTHONPATH=$CARLA_ROOT/PythonAPI/carla:$PYTHONPATH

Cleanup Script (Optional)

To reclaim disk space after installations:

sudo apt-get clean
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
rm -rf osqp osqp-eigen ColPack ADOl-C yaml-cpp qpOASES g2o