`rosdep install` fails with conda-related errors after following Pixi install instructions

[lauralindzey]

I've followed the getting-started instructions here: https://robostack.github.io/GettingStarted.html#__tabbed_1_2

I was able to get roscore + rviz working, but when I tried to import dependencies for the package I'm working on, I get this error:

(robostack:noetic) bash-3.2$ rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y

ERROR: Rosdep experienced an internal error.
Please go to the rosdep page [1] and file a bug report with the message below.
[1] : http://www.ros.org/wiki/rosdep

rosdep version: 0.26.0

Bad installer [conda]: None of micromamba, mamba, conda was found.

Do I also need to install conda if I'm using pixi?

---

I'm running on MacOS 15.4.1, and have run the following commands:

curl -fsSL https://pixi.sh/install.sh | bash
pixi init robostack
cd robostack
vim pixi.toml # copy over content from tutorial
pixi install
pixi shell -e noetic
mkdir -p catkin_ws/src; cd catkin_ws/src
git clone git@gitlab.com:[my_package]
pixi add vcstool
vcs import --input [my_package]/[my_package].repos
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y

---

Possibly related: I get warnings about missing install/setup.bash:

totten:robostack lindzey$ pixi shell -e noetic
 WARN Could not find activation scripts: /Users/lindzey/Documents/RSAmanip/robostack/install/setup.bash

[Tobias-Fischer]

See conda-forge/rosdep-feedstock#35

[lauralindzey]

Ah, bummer. (I was a lot happier about pixi than conda!) Sounds like pixi is not currently recommended if you want to actually do dev work rather than e.g. just using rviz? If so, it might be good to add a caveat to the docs, since they currently recommend using pixi.

[Tobias-Fischer]

I’ve never been a big fan of rosdep to be honest, but that might just be me .. installing dependencies manually with pixi should be easy in most cases. Also we’re always very happy about community contributions; adding pixi support to rosdep should not be hard at all.

[lauralindzey]

OK -- I'll give that a go. Thank you!

The FAQ section for "What to do if packages could not be found?" only has information for mamba (+ points to rosdep)

It took me a sec to figure out that I needed to edit the [feature.noetic.dependencies] section of pixi.toml and re-run pixi install

[traversaro]

The FAQ section for "What to do if packages could not be found?" only has information for mamba (+ points to rosdep)

I tried to clarified this in #103, can you double check the PR? Thanks!

[lauralindzey]

Thank you! I commented on the PR -- not sure if my suggested additional details are actually the correct way to do this, but it's working for me ...