Install the generator

Build a local wheel from this repository. Python 3.10 or newer is required. The commands below use an isolated environment and run from the repository root.

Prepare and build the wheel

python -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install 'requests>=2.31' build 'setuptools>=77' wheel
python dimos_cdrgen/prepare_parser.py
python -m build --no-isolation
python -m pip install dist/dimos_cdrgen-0.1.0-py3-none-any.whl
dimos-cdrgen --help

The help output lists one optional positional argument, project. The preparation command downloads the pinned ROSIDL parser source and verifies its hash. The wheel and source archive include the prepared parser and its license. Installing either artifact does not fetch upstream parser source.

A checkout without the prepared parser fails during build or installation. Run preparation before python -m pip install . as well.

Use cached parser sources

To prepare without network access, use a cache populated by a previous successful preparation:

python dimos_cdrgen/prepare_parser.py --offline --cache /path/to/parser-cache

To use a downloaded archive, supply its path:

python dimos_cdrgen/prepare_parser.py --offline --archive /path/to/rosidl.tar.gz

The archive must match the pinned hash in dimos_cdrgen/parser-source.json. Offline Python installation also needs a wheelhouse containing the normal build and runtime dependencies. A parser cache does not supply those dependencies.

Choose the next step

Generate a Python message with the installed tool. Install the native extra only when you need C++ compilation. Rust compilation uses Cargo and the generated crate's dependencies.

The documentation environment is separate. Building this website does not install the generator, prepare the parser, or build messages.