rviz2 crashes when launched as a node

[rotu]

When launching using a launch_ros.actions.Node, RViz2 crashes, choking on the newly introduced --ros-args option. Seems to be caused by ros2/launch_ros#52

from pathlib import Path

from ament_index_python.packages import get_package_share_directory
from launch import LaunchDescription
from launch.actions import SetEnvironmentVariable, DeclareLaunchArgument
from launch.substitutions import LaunchConfiguration
from launch_ros.actions import Node


def generate_launch_description():
    rviz_config = Path(get_package_share_directory('openrover_demo'), 'config', 'default.rviz').resolve()
    assert rviz_config.is_file()

    return LaunchDescription([
        DeclareLaunchArgument('frame', default_value='map', description='The fixed frame to be used in RViz'),
        SetEnvironmentVariable('RCUTILS_CONSOLE_STDOUT_LINE_BUFFERED', '1'),
        Node(
            package='rviz2', node_executable='rviz2', output='screen',
            arguments=[
                '--display-config', str(rviz_config),
                '--fixed-frame', LaunchConfiguration(variable_name='frame')
            ]
        )
    ])

$ ros2 launch openrover_demo rviz.launch.py
[INFO] [launch]: All log files can be found below /home/dan/.ros/log/2019-08-07-14-17-41-837727-rhea-5588
[INFO] [launch]: Default logging verbosity is set to INFO
[INFO] [rviz2-1]: process started with pid [6352]
[rviz2-1] Unknown option 'ros-args'.
[ERROR] [rviz2-1]: process has died [pid 6352, exit code 1, cmd '/home/dan/ros2_ws/install/lib/rviz2/rviz2 --display-config /home/dan/ros2_ws/install/share/openrover_demo/config/default.rviz --fixed-frame map --ros-args'].

[mikaelarguedas]

👍 I'm facing the same issue

[rotu]

It worked for me to rewrite my launch file as below. I'm not sure if rviz should be launched as a node, though that seems to be a common practice.

from pathlib import Path

from ament_index_python.packages import get_package_share_directory
from launch import LaunchDescription
from launch.actions import SetEnvironmentVariable, DeclareLaunchArgument, ExecuteProcess
from launch.substitutions import LaunchConfiguration


def generate_launch_description():
    rviz_config = Path(get_package_share_directory('openrover_demo'), 'config', 'default.rviz').resolve()
    assert rviz_config.is_file()

    return LaunchDescription([
        DeclareLaunchArgument('frame', default_value='map', description='The fixed frame to be used in RViz'),
        SetEnvironmentVariable('RCUTILS_CONSOLE_STDOUT_LINE_BUFFERED', '1'),
        ExecuteProcess(cmd=[
                'rviz2',
                '--display-config', str(rviz_config),
                '--fixed-frame', LaunchConfiguration(variable_name='frame')
            ],
            output='screen'),
    ])

[jacobperron]

I ran into a similar issue where I attempted to use the new option from the command line:

rviz2 --ros-args ...

or

ros2 run rviz2 rviz2 --ros-args ...

I guess this has something to do with rviz being run as a Qt application.

[orduno]

Additionally, prior to ros2/launch_ros#52, if rviz was launched as a process the following worked for setting a namespace and remapping some topic:

    start_rviz_remapped_cmd = launch.actions.ExecuteProcess(
        cmd=[os.path.join(get_package_prefix('rviz2'), 'lib/rviz2/rviz2'),
            ['__ns:=/', rviz_namespace],
            ['/some_topic:=some_topic_remapped'],
        cwd=[launch_dir], output='screen')

This no longer works, the namespace is not applied and some_topic is not remapped.

[orduno]

The parsing is done during the call to init of VisualizerApp:

rviz/rviz_common/src/rviz_common/visualizer_app.cpp

Line 129 in c28f2c2

bool VisualizerApp::init(int argc, char ** argv)

(Seems like) all that is needed is to have it ignore this flag by adding:

  QCommandLineOption ros_args(
    QStringList() << "r" << "ros-args",
    "ROS arguments passed to rclcpp::init");
  parser.addOption(ros_args);

probably here:

rviz/rviz_common/src/rviz_common/visualizer_app.cpp

Line 178 in c28f2c2

The arguments are still passed to rcl

rviz/rviz_common/src/rviz_common/visualizer_app.cpp

Line 280 in c28f2c2

node_ = ros_client_abstraction_->init(argc, argv, "rviz", false /* anonymous_name */);

rviz/rviz_common/src/rviz_common/ros_integration/ros_client_abstraction.cpp

Line 60 in c28f2c2

rclcpp::init(argc, argv);

I tested successfully launching as Node or ExecuteProcess with ROS arguments --ros_args __ns:=rviz_namespace.

[orduno]

Also choking on the -r/--remap option introduced in ros2/launch_ros#59

[lbegani]

As a temporary solution, checked out ros2/launch_ros@606eaee to proceed.

[mkhansenbot]

@jacobperron @wjwwood - there are work-arounds for this like launching rviz as a proess instead of node but that means every launch file that is currently doing that will need to change in order to work with Eloquent. Can we get this on the Eloquent must-fix list please?

[jacobperron]

@mkhansen-intel I'll look into resolving this.

[jacobperron]

Please see #474 for a proposed fix.