Ubuntu 24.04 Support

[MaEtUgR]

Solved Problem

Ubuntu 24.04 stable came out and we already have the first developer @haumarco using it on a new laptop. Some things need to be adapted.

Issues

• [x] When I followed https://docs.px4.io/main/en/dev_setup/dev_env_linux_ubuntu.html and ran git clone https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot.git --recursive I got prompted to enter https credentials for Tools/simulation/jsbsim/jsbsim_bridge/models/Rascal and ATI-Resolution. I don't know why that is since the repos are still public. Ticking this one since it's unrelated and tracked here: https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/issues/23124
• [ ] The newer python versions have this annoying pip package environment enforcement. For Arch Linux which had this problem already quite some time ago I added the --break-system-packages parameter which is in my understanding not the proper solution so we might as well do it correctly now and use a virtual environment. But I need to first figure out how to do it correctly before rolling that out. Related:
  • https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/issues/23073
  • https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/commit/d25938698715dbb6a10e0891471c33a08687bf85
• [ ] libncurses5 seems not available. Only libncurses5-dev? Why? New version?
• [ ] The Java version condition by default uses 14 which doesn't exist. 11 works but we should probably use a newer one if possible.
• [ ] Gazebo neither classic nor gz exist as packages for 24.04 yet.
• [ ] There's a Warning about Compatibility with CMake < 3.5

Changelog Entry

Ubuntu 24.04 support of toolchain
Documentation: Make sure it's reflected on the development environment page.

Test coverage

With this hacky draft I could successfully build make px4_sitl and make px4_fmu-v5x. I haven't tested more. Let's cooperate to work through the items and do more testing.

[saosebastiao]

The basic flow for a python virtual environment using venv is to create a directory for your environment using python -m venv /path/to/myenv. Most projects will just name this directory venv/, and it is conventional to add this directory to .gitignore, as it will contain platform-specific code.

The virtual environment is activated by calling source venv/bin/activate, which updates your local shell's PATH references so that the virtual environment's dependencies appear like they're global. After activating the virtual environment, dependencies can be added using normal pip commands:

python3 -m pip install -r path/to/requirements.txt` 

Then when you want to leave the virtual environment, you have to call deactivate, which was added to your path in the initial activation.

I have something of a working branch with this modification for macos (the branch has a lot of other issues), discussed here: https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/issues/23073

[julianoes]

@saosebastiao I agree. Switching dependencies to a venv is long overdue. (And we should also install the arm compiler only locally and source it in the same way, and not mess with the users PATH.

[TannerGilbert]

Is there any update on this and Ubuntu 24.04 support in general?

[TannerGilbert]

I have looked into this and think it's related to #23228 but even when adding the Makefile changes from #23228 to this PR I still couldn't run make px4_sitl as expected as not every command in the Makefile seems to be using the virtual environment yet.

For now I could get the simulation to run by adding --break-system-packages as mentioned by @MaEtUgR.

[MaEtUgR]

Is there any update on this and Ubuntu 24.04 support in general?

I'm aware there are rightfully more and more users. I haven't spent any time anymore 😬 I agree we should got for the --break-system-packages workaround for now. Just wanted to test this again on 24.04 and 22.04 to make sure it didn't break anything and then we can get it merged and documented.

[DronecodeBot]

This pull request has been mentioned on Discussion Forum for PX4, Pixhawk, QGroundControl, MAVSDK, MAVLink. There might be relevant details there:

https://discuss.px4.io/t/installing-px4-on-ubuntu-24-04-x64-vm/39365/5

[MaEtUgR]

👀 https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/pull/23869/

[DronecodeBot]

This pull request has been mentioned on Discussion Forum for PX4, Pixhawk, QGroundControl, MAVSDK, MAVLink. There might be relevant details there:

https://discuss.px4.io/t/px4-sync-q-a-oct-30-2024/42184/1

[MaEtUgR]

Superseded by https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/pull/23937 24.04 now works out of the box on main.

[Aniruddha120]

Superseded by #23937 24.04 now works out of the box on main.

so how to use px4 in ubuntu 24.04? I still cant find the proper way. I want to use it using gazebo. Thanks.

[hamishwillee]

@Aniruddha120 Please don't necrobump old issues, or add "how do I do this" stuff that isn't a bug to the issue tracking repo.

If you have a problem with usage, ask on https://discuss.px4.io/ and put as much information as possible on what you have already tried. IF there is some problem then you may be asked to create an issue report.