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 24.04 (Nimble Numbat) and Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish).

The environment includes:

• Gazebo Simulator (Gazebo Harmonic)
• Build toolchain for Pixhawk (and other NuttX-based hardware) using the gcc-arm-none-eabi compiler from the Ubuntu package manager.

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

INFO

PX4 targets the current Ubuntu LTS (24.04) for CI and release builds, with the previous LTS (22.04) also supported. Older Ubuntu versions are not supported and may not work.

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.

2. 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.

3. Restart the computer on completion.

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 gcc is available. The version depends on your Ubuntu release (e.g. GCC 13.2.1 on Ubuntu 24.04):

  $ arm-none-eabi-gcc --version
  
  arm-none-eabi-gcc (15:13.2.rel1-2) 13.2.1 20231009
  Copyright (C) 2023 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

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

• Raspberry Pi 2/3 Navio2 Autopilot > PX4 Development Environment
• Raspberry Pi 2/3/4 PilotPi Shield.

ROS

• ROS 2: ROS 2 User Guide > Installation & Setup.
• ROS (1): ROS (1) Installation Guide

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.

• Continue to the build instructions.