rosgenmsg fails with encoding error

Hello,

I want to generate some custom ROS messages in Matlab. I've followed the instructions stated here.

However, when executing rosgenmsg, I run into the error described below. The issue occurs with my own custom message package, as well as with two other custom message packages that are published on github (radar_msgs and kobuki_msgs).

According to the log, there seems to be some encoding issue with utf-8.

How can I fix the issue and build the custom messages?

rosgenmsg("C:\MATLAB\custom_messages")
Identifying message files in folder 'C:/MATLAB/custom_messages'..Done.
Validating message files in folder 'C:/MATLAB/custom_messages'..Done.
[1/1] Generating MATLAB interfaces for custom message packages... Done.
Running catkin build in folder 'C:/Matlab/custom_messages/matlab_msg_gen_ros1/win64'.
Build in progress. This may take several minutes...Error using ros.internal.ROSProjectBuilder/buildPackage
Error building package: build log.
Error in rosgenmsg (line 480)
    buildPackage(builder, [], 'install', catkinMakeArgs); %other messages might need to be present in the same directory

The build log is given below:

    **********************************************************************
    ** Visual Studio 2019 Developer Command Prompt v16.11.12
    ** Copyright (c) 2021 Microsoft Corporation
    **********************************************************************
    [vcvarsall.bat] Environment initialized for: 'x86_x64'
    -- The C compiler identification is MSVC 19.29.30142.1
    -- The CXX compiler identification is MSVC 19.29.30142.1
    -- Detecting C compiler ABI info
    -- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
    -- Check for working C compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2019/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.29.30133/bin/Hostx86/x64/cl.exe - skipped
        -- Detecting C compile features
        -- Detecting C compile features - done
        -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
        -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
        -- Check for working CXX compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2019/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.29.30133/bin/Hostx86/x64/cl.exe - skipped
            -- Detecting CXX compile features
            -- Detecting CXX compile features - done
            -- Using CATKIN_DEVEL_PREFIX: C:/Matlab/custom_messages/matlab_msg_gen_ros1/win64/devel
            -- Using CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH: C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2022a\sys\ros1\win64\ros1;C:/Program Files/MATLAB/R2022a/toolbox/ros/mlroscpp/custom_messages
            -- This workspace overlays: C:/Program Files/MATLAB/R2022a/sys/ros1/win64/ros1;C:/Program Files/MATLAB/R2022a/toolbox/ros/mlroscpp/custom_messages
            -- Found PythonInterp: C:/Users/Franz/AppData/Roaming/MathWorks/MATLAB/R2022a/ros1/win64/venv/Scripts/python.exe (found suitable version "3.9.12", minimum required is "3") 
            -- Using PYTHON_EXECUTABLE: C:/Users/Franz/AppData/Roaming/MathWorks/MATLAB/R2022a/ros1/win64/venv/Scripts/python.exe
            -- Using default Python package layout
            -- Found PY_em: C:\Users\Franz\AppData\Roaming\MATHWO~1\MATLAB\R2022a\ros1\win64\venv\lib\site-packages\em.py  
            -- Using empy: C:/Users/Franz/AppData/Roaming/MATHWO~1/MATLAB/R2022a/ros1/win64/venv/lib/site-packages/em.py
            -- Using CATKIN_ENABLE_TESTING: off
            -- catkin 0.8.10
            -- BUILD_SHARED_LIBS is on
            Das Sprungziel - GenerateTempFilename wurde nicht gefunden.
            Traceback (most recent call last):
            File "C:\Matlab\custom_messages\matlab_msg_gen_ros1\win64\build\catkin_generated\generate_cached_setup.py", line 22, in <module>
            code = generate_environment_script('C:/Matlab/custom_messages/matlab_msg_gen_ros1/win64/devel/env.bat')
            File "C:\PROGRA~1\MATLAB\R2022a\sys\ros1\win64\ros1\lib\site-packages\catkin\environment_cache.py", line 63, in generate_environment_script
            env_after = ast.literal_eval(output.decode('utf-8'))
            UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xe4 in position 3940: invalid continuation byte
            CMake Error at C:/Program Files/MATLAB/R2022a/sys/ros1/win64/ros1/share/catkin/cmake/safe_execute_process.cmake:11 (message):
            
            execute_process(C:/Users/Franz/AppData/Roaming/MathWorks/MATLAB/R2022a/ros1/win64/venv/Scripts/python.exe
            "C:/Matlab/custom_messages/matlab_msg_gen_ros1/win64/build/catkin_generated/generate_cached_setup.py")
            returned error code 1
            Call Stack (most recent call first):
            C:/Program Files/MATLAB/R2022a/sys/ros1/win64/ros1/share/catkin/cmake/all.cmake:208 (safe_execute_process)
            C:/Program Files/MATLAB/R2022a/sys/ros1/win64/ros1/share/catkin/cmake/catkinConfig.cmake:20 (include)
            CMakeLists.txt:58 (find_package)
            
            
            -- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
            See also "C:/Matlab/custom_messages/matlab_msg_gen_ros1/win64/build/CMakeFiles/CMakeOutput.log".
            Base path: C:\MATLAB\custom_messages\matlab_msg_gen_ros1\win64
            Source space: C:\MATLAB\custom_messages\matlab_msg_gen_ros1\win64\src
            Build space: C:\MATLAB\custom_messages\matlab_msg_gen_ros1\win64\build
            Devel space: C:\MATLAB\custom_messages\matlab_msg_gen_ros1\win64\devel
            Install space: C:\MATLAB\custom_messages\matlab_msg_gen_ros1\win64\install
            Copying file from "C:\PROGRA~1\MATLAB\R2022a\sys\ros1\win64\ros1\share\catkin\cmake\toplevel.cmake" to "C:\MATLAB\custom_messages\matlab_msg_gen_ros1\win64\src\CMakeLists.txt"
            ####
            #### Running command: "cmake C:\MATLAB\custom_messages\matlab_msg_gen_ros1\win64\src -DALIAS_ROS1_CLASS_LOADER=1 -DBoost_NAMESPACE=mwboost -DCATKIN_ENABLE_TESTING=off -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=cl.exe -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=cl.exe -DCMAKE_LINKER=link.exe -DMSVC_TOOLSET_VERSION=141 -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2022a\sys\ros1\win64\ros1;C:/Program Files/MATLAB/R2022a/toolbox/ros/mlroscpp/custom_messages -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE=/MD /Od /Ob2 /DNDEBUG -DCATKIN_DEVEL_PREFIX=C:\MATLAB\custom_messages\matlab_msg_gen_ros1\win64\devel -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=C:\MATLAB\custom_messages\matlab_msg_gen_ros1\win64\install -G Ninja" in "C:\MATLAB\custom_messages\matlab_msg_gen_ros1\win64\build"
            ####
            Invoking "cmake" failed

[Hari Krishna Kakarla]

Hi Franz,

I am unable to reproduce the error on my side. I have downloaded the packages from here:

https://github.com/ros-perception/radar_msgs/tree/noetic

https://github.com/yujinrobot/kobuki_msgs

I am able to generate custom messages for these packages successfully without any errors. Please attach your custom message packages with which you have encountered the error mentioned above.

Thanks

Hari

[Franz Albers]

Hey Hari,

thanks for the quick reply!

I don't think that the issue arises due to the package itself, as building our custom messages works on other computers and building the radar_msgs or kobuki_msgs does also not work in my setup. However, I've attached our custom message package.

I rather think that there might be a conflict with my system environment and lines 60-63 of environment_cache.py, where the error for some reason occurs on my system.

    # fetch environment after calling setup
    python_code = 'import os; print(dict(os.environ))'
    output = subprocess.check_output([env_script, sys.executable, '-c', python_code])
    # print(output)
    env_after = ast.literal_eval(output.decode('utf8'))

I've also printed the output in the line before the error occurs (as commented in the code above) to the log file and attached the log file (see lines 16-19 of stdout_stderr.log.txt).

Greetings,

Franz

[Soulaimane Berkane]

Hello Franz,

I am facing a similar problem to yours. Did you figure out a solution? Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

[Jagadeesh Konakalla]

Looks issue is with the environment as mentioned by Franz.