🎉 Gazebo Ionic Test and Tutorial Party Instructions

General
1

ionic_tutorial_party
ionic_tutorial_party1600×900 158 KB

Hi Gazebo community,

As mentioned previously we’ll be conducting a testing and tutorial party for the next Gazebo release, Ionic. If you missed the kickoff meeting for the tutorial party, here’s the video:

We’ll be partying from August 29th until Friday, September 13th, 2025. As a reminder, to sweeten the pot, we will once again be sending out Ionic t-shirts :tshirt: to the top ten tutorial party animals (those who finish reviewing the most tutorials as measured by closed tickets). Since the t-shirts will be distributed as gift codes to the Gazebo T-Spring store :point_right:you must fill out this form after you close your first ticket.:point_left: Participants must register no later than September 13, 2024 to be eligible for the swag give away. Additionally, every single one of the tutorial participants will be included in the Ionic release notes. Unfortunately, we’re still working on the Gazebo Ionic artwork, so our Gazebo store isn’t quite ready yet, but we should have that up before the end of the Tutorial Party.

Important Dates :calendar:

  • 2024-08-29 → 2023-09-13 Ionic Tutorial Party
  • 2024-09-16 → 2023-09-20 Internal Q&A
  • 2024-09-25 Community Meeting Demo
  • 2024-09-30 Official Release Announcement
  • 2024-10-07 Tutorial Party top contributors announced
    (potentially earlier)
  • 2024-09-30 Official Release Announcement
  • TBD Graphic Release and T-Shirt Sale – (T-shirt / art will be delayed)

How to Party! :partying_face:

The party process is fairly simple, and if all goes according to plan you should be able to validate a few tutorials in an hour or two and check out some recent upgrades to Gazebo. We’ll be using the issues in this Github repository to track our progress as we’ve created an automated system for generating all of the different tutorials we need to review. Here are the steps (to party):

  • Pick a tutorial flavor by filtering out the Github issues using the corresponding labels. The Readme will be a good starting point and has some helpful tips on how to filter Github issues. Note that the Ionic release supports two installation methods (source and binaries) and a few host operating systems (Ubuntu Noble, Windows, MacOS Monterey, and Ventura).
  • Install the pre-releases on your computer (we’ve include directions for each host operating system below, but they are all listed here)
  • Make sure to check out the troubleshooting page if you run into any issues.
  • Find an open issue from the Gazebo testing repository and comment on the issue stating that you would like to test the tutorial contained in the issue.
  • Run through the tutorial from start to finish! Be really thorough; if you think you could improve the tutorial feel free to add to it. At this point one of three things will happen:
    • The tutorial works perfectly!
      • Close the issue with a comment that everything works as expected.
    • The tutorial has issues…
      • But, you can fix them and send us a PR.
      • Open the PR and drop a link on the issue.
    • You can’t fix them (that’s ok!)
      • Post a comment describing the problems you faced.
        • Open the PR and drop a link on the issue.
      • You can’t fix them (that’s ok!)
        • Post a comment describing the problems you faced.
  • :ros: If you’re doing a tutorial that works with ROS, make sure to follow the ROS integration testing instructions.
  • :package: If you don’t have Ubuntu Noble installed natively, we’ve provided Dockerfiles and instructions to do the tests using Docker.
  • :point_right:Fill out the registration form after you close your first ticket.:point_left:
  • Try another tutorial!

Need Help? :raised_hand:

If you find yourself in a pickle don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Our recommendation is that you first comment in the ticket you are working on and ping a member of the core team. Alternatively you can bring your questions to the #gazebo-help channel on our Discord server. If you have general T&T party questions feel free to ask them below. Otherwise, here are some helpful resources if you get stuck:

Installing Pre-releases

All Ionic libraries have pre-releases. The following installation methods are available:

1 Like
4

We’ve been making great progress on the Tutorial party. Thanks everyone for the participation!!

Most of the issues we’ve closed so far have been for the Ubuntu Noble platform, so there are still plenty of macOS and Windows issues left. If you have a setup with either macOS or Windows, we would love for you to participate. Please come join the party :gazebo: :tada:

5

Hi Everyone,

I am sitting in a room with @azeey, @clalancette, and a few others right now. We’re looking at the Test and Tutorial Party results and we need some help.

Here’s the good news:

:tada: We are basically done with Ubuntu tickets for Ionic.

:frowning_face: Here is the bad news :

We desperately need the community’s help testing on these platforms. If you happen to have a Windows VM, or a Mac sitting around we would really appreciate your help.

We’re all in a room right now firing up VMs to push through some testing and we love some help!

1 Like
6

If you participated in the tutorial party and want to be eligible for the T-shirt giveaway, please make sure you fill out this form by 2024-09-12T12:00:00Z.