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Ubuntu Development Environment

The following instructions use a bash script to set up the PX4 development environment on the Ubuntu Linux LTS versions supported by PX4: Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish), 20.04 (Focal Fossa), and 18.04 (Bionic Beaver).

The environment includes:

:::info The build toolchain for other flight controllers, simulators, and working with ROS are discussed in the Other Targets section below. :::

:::tip if you need to use Gazebo on Ubuntu 20.04 you can manually install Gazebo "Garden", with the caveat that this is end-of-life in November 2024. If you want to use Gazebo Classic on Ubuntu 22.04 (say) then you can manually install it by following the instructions in Gazebo Classic > Installation. :::

Simulation and NuttX (Pixhawk) Targets

Use the ubuntu.sh script to set up a development environment that allows you to build for simulators and/or the NuttX/Pixhawk toolchain.

:::tip The script is intended to be run on clean Ubuntu LTS installations, and may not work if run "on top" of an existing system, or on a different Ubuntu release. :::

To install the toolchain:

  1. Download PX4 Source Code:

    git clone https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot.git --recursive

    ::: info The environment setup scripts in the source usually work for recent PX4 releases. If working with an older version of PX4 you may need to get the source code specific to your release.

:::

  1. Run the ubuntu.sh with no arguments (in a bash shell) to install everything:

    bash ./PX4-Autopilot/Tools/setup/ubuntu.sh
    • Acknowledge any prompts as the script progress.
    • You can use the --no-nuttx and --no-sim-tools options to omit the NuttX and/or simulation tools.

  2. Restart the computer on completion.

:::details Additional notes These notes are provided "for information only":

  • This setup is supported by the PX4 Dev Team. The instructions may also work on other Debian Linux based systems.

  • You can verify the NuttX installation by confirming the gcc version as shown:

    $arm-none-eabi-gcc --version

arm-none-eabi-gcc (GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain 9-2020-q2-update) 9.3.1 20200408 (release)
Copyright (C) 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

  • You're going to need the PX4 source code anyway. But if you just wanted to set up the development environment without getting all the source code you could instead just download ubuntu.sh and requirements.txt and then run ubuntu.sh:

    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/main/Tools/setup/ubuntu.sh
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/main/Tools/setup/requirements.txt
bash ubuntu.sh

:::

Video Guide

This video shows how to install the toolchain for NuttX and simulation targets (as covered below) along with the basic testing covered in Building PX4 Software.

:::warning The video suggests that you build source using JMAVSim, entering the command: make px4_sitl jmavsim. As JMAVSim is now community-supported, you should instead build using Gazebo or Gazebo Classic, as shown in Building the Code :::

Other Targets

The Ubuntu development environment for ROS, other simulators, and other hardware targets, is covered in their respective documentation. A subset of the relevant topics are linked below.

Raspberry Pi

ROS

Next Steps

Once you have finished setting up the command-line toolchain:

  • Install VSCode (if you prefer using an IDE to the command line).

  • Install the QGroundControl Daily Build

    :::tip The daily build includes development tools that hidden in release builds. It may also provide access to new PX4 features that are not yet supported in release builds.

:::