catkin profile – Manage Profiles

Many verbs contain a --profile option, which selects which configuration profile to use, without which it will use the “active” profile. The profile verb enables you to manager the available profiles as well as set the “active” profile when using other verbs.

Even without using the profile verb, any use of the catkin command which changes the workspace is implicitly using a configuration profile called default.

The profile verb has several sub-commands for profile management. These include the following:

  • list – List the available profiles
  • set – Set the active profile by name.
  • add – Add a new profile by name.
  • rename – Rename a given profile.
  • remove – Remove a profile by name.

Creating Profiles Automatically

After initializing a workspace, you can start querying information about profiles. Until you execute a verb which actually writes a profile configuration, however, there will be no profiles listed:

$ mkdir -p /tmp/path/to/my_catkin_ws/src
$ cd /tmp/path/to/my_catkin_ws
$ catkin init
$ catkin profile list
[profile] This workspace has no metadata profiles. Any configuration
settings will automatically by applied to a new profile called `default`.

To see these effects, you can run catkin config to write a default configuration to the workspace:

$ cd /tmp/path/to/my_catkin_ws
$ catkin config
--------------------------------------------------------------
Profile:                     default
Extending:                   None
Workspace:                   /tmp/path/to/my_catkin_ws
Source Space:       [exists] /tmp/path/to/my_catkin_ws/src
Build Space:       [missing] /tmp/path/to/my_catkin_ws/build
Devel Space:       [missing] /tmp/path/to/my_catkin_ws/devel
Install Space:     [missing] /tmp/path/to/my_catkin_ws/install
DESTDIR:                     None
--------------------------------------------------------------
Isolate Develspaces:         False
Install Packages:            False
Isolate Installs:            False
--------------------------------------------------------------
Additional CMake Args:       None
Additional Make Args:        None
Additional catkin Make Args: None
--------------------------------------------------------------
Workspace configuration appears valid.
--------------------------------------------------------------
$ catkin profile list
[profile] Available profiles:
- default (active)

The profile verb now shows that the profile named “default” is available and is active. Calling catkin config with the --profile argument will automatically create a profile based on the given configuration options:

$ catkin config --profile alternate -x _alt
------------------------------------------------------------------
Profile:                     alternate
Extending:                   None
Workspace:                   /tmp/path/to/my_catkin_ws
Source Space:       [exists] /tmp/path/to/my_catkin_ws/src
Build Space:       [missing] /tmp/path/to/my_catkin_ws/build_alt
Devel Space:       [missing] /tmp/path/to/my_catkin_ws/devel_alt
Install Space:     [missing] /tmp/path/to/my_catkin_ws/install_alt
DESTDIR:                     None
------------------------------------------------------------------
Isolate Develspaces:         False
Install Packages:            False
Isolate Installs:            False
------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional CMake Args:       None
Additional Make Args:        None
Additional catkin Make Args: None
------------------------------------------------------------------
Workspace configuration appears valid.
------------------------------------------------------------------
$ catkin profile list
[profile] Available profiles:
- alternate
- default (active)

Note that while the profile named alternate has been configured, it is still not active, so any calls to catkin-verbs without an explicit --profile alternate option will still use the profile named default.

Explicitly Creating Profiles

Profiles can also be added explicitly with the add command. This profile can be initialized with configuration information from either the default settings or another profile.

$ catkin profile list
[profile] Available profiles:
- alternate
- default (active)
$ catkin profile add alternate_2 --copy alternate
[profile] Created a new profile named alternate_2 based on profile alternate
[profile] Available profiles:
- alternate
- alternate_2
- default (active)

Setting the Active Profile

The active profile can be easily set with the set sub-command. Suppose a workspace has the following profiles:

$ catkin profile list
[profile] Available profiles:
- alternate
- alternate_2
- default (active)
$ catkin profile set alternate_2
[profile] Activated catkin metadata profile: alternate_2
[profile] Available profiles:
- alternate
- alternate_2 (active)
- default

Renaming and Removing Profiles

The profile verb can also be used for renaming and removing profiles:

$ catkin profile list
[profile] Available profiles:
- alternate
- alternate_2 (active)
- default
$ catkin profile rename alternate_2 alternate2
[profile] Renamed profile alternate_2 to alternate2
[profile] Available profiles:
- alternate
- alternate2 (active)
- default
$ catkin profile remove alterate
[profile] Removed profile: alternate
[profile] Available profiles:
- alternate2 (active)
- default

Full Command-Line Interface

usage: catkin profile [-h] [--workspace WORKSPACE]
                      {list,set,add,rename,remove} ...

Manage config profiles for a catkin workspace.

positional arguments:
  {list,set,add,rename,remove}
                        sub-command help
    list                List the available profiles.
    set                 Set the active profile by name.
    add                 Add a new profile by name.
    rename              Rename a given profile.
    remove              Remove a profile by name.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --workspace WORKSPACE, -w WORKSPACE
                        The path to the catkin workspace. Default: current
                        working directory

catkin profile list

usage: catkin profile list [-h] [--unformatted] [--active]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help         show this help message and exit
  --unformatted, -u  Print profile list without punctuation and additional
                     details.
  --active           Print only active profile.

catkin profile set

usage: catkin profile set [-h] name

positional arguments:
  name        The profile to activate.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit

catkin profile add

usage: catkin profile add [-h] [-f]
                          [--copy BASE_PROFILE | --copy-active | --extend PARENT_PROFILE]
                          name

positional arguments:
  name                  The new profile name.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -f, --force           Overwrite an existing profile.
  --copy BASE_PROFILE   Copy the settings from an existing profile. (default:
                        None)
  --copy-active         Copy the settings from the active profile.
  --extend PARENT_PROFILE
                        Extend another profile

catkin profile rename

usage: catkin profile rename [-h] [-f] current_name new_name

positional arguments:
  current_name  The current name of the profile to be renamed.
  new_name      The new name for the profile.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help    show this help message and exit
  -f, --force   Overwrite an existing profile.

catkin profile remove

usage: catkin profile remove [-h] [name ...]

positional arguments:
  name        One or more profile names to remove.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit