ament_xmake

ROS 2 rule package that enables building ROS 2 packages with xmake. It provides xmake rules and helpers so that xmake-based packages follow standard ament install conventions and integrate seamlessly with the ROS 2 build ecosystem via colcon-xmake.

Requirements

• ROS 2 Jazzy (or later)
• xmake build system

Installation

ament_xmake is a standard ROS 2 package. Clone it into a colcon workspace and build:

mkdir -p ~/ros2_ws/src
cd ~/ros2_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/ros-x/ament_xmake.git
cd ~/ros2_ws
colcon build --packages-select ament_xmake
source install/setup.bash

You will also need colcon-xmake installed so that colcon build knows how to drive xmake-based packages.

Intended package usage

add_rules("ament_xmake.package")

target("my_node")
    set_kind("binary")
    add_files("src/my_node.cpp")
    add_ros_deps("rclcpp", "geometry_msgs")

The rule is expected to ensure ROS package install conventions:

• install package.xml to share/<pkg>/package.xml
• install ament index marker to share/ament_index/resource_index/packages/<pkg>
• generate minimal share/<pkg>/cmake/<pkg>Config.cmake for downstream find_package(... CONFIG)
• install built artifacts to ROS-style layout (e.g. lib/, lib/<pkg>/)
• export imported target <pkg>::<pkg> when a library artifact exists
• provide add_ros_deps(...) to resolve ROS package include/link flags via CMake export metadata

Constraints

• For deterministic config export, the primary library target should be named the same as the package.
• In --symlink-install mode the plugin sets AMENT_XMAKE_SYMLINK_INSTALL=1 so install steps prefer symlinks on Linux.

Docs

• docs/RULE_SPEC.md
• docs/SYMLINK_INSTALL.md
• CHANGELOG.md

Related projects

• ros-x — GitHub organization for ROS 2 + xmake tooling
• colcon-xmake — colcon build verb extension for xmake

License

Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE for details.