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Eric Young
Eric Young

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ROS2 SYSTEMS ANALYSIS: The Build-Source-Run Ritual

The Build-Source-Run ritual that turns dead packages into living systems

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BUILD * SOURCE * RUN**I spent hours writing ROS2 nodes that "compiled fine" but refused to run.
Nothing was broken.

I was skipping the ritual that makes ROS2 come alive.

BUILD- From your workspace folder, compile your package. This generates all necessary executables, libraries, and setup files, storing them in the /install directory. (colcon build)
SOURCE- Load the environment so ROS2 can locate your package's components. (source install/setup.bash)
RUN- Launch your package's nodes. (ros2 run package_name exe_name)

Following the BUILD-SOURCE-RUN workflow correctly every time ensures your ROS2 packages execute reliably and avoids runtime errors.

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