Add support for launching nodes not in a package

launch_ros/launch_ros/actions/node.py

@@ -59,8 +59,8 @@ class Node(ExecuteProcess):
 
     def __init__(
         self, *,
-        package: SomeSubstitutionsType,
         node_executable: SomeSubstitutionsType,
+        package: Optional[SomeSubstitutionsType] = None,
         node_name: Optional[SomeSubstitutionsType] = None,
         node_namespace: SomeSubstitutionsType = '',
         parameters: Optional[SomeParameters] = None,
@@ -115,8 +115,9 @@ def __init__(
         passed in in order to the node (where the last definition of a
         parameter takes effect).
 
+        :param: node_executable the name of the executable to find if a package
+            is provided or otherwise a path to the executable to run.
         :param: package the package in which the node executable can be found
-        :param: node_executable the name of the executable to find
         :param: node_name the name of the node
         :param: node_namespace the ros namespace for this Node
         :param: parameters list of names of yaml files with parameter rules,
@@ -125,7 +126,10 @@ def __init__(
             passed to the node as ROS remapping rules
         :param: arguments list of extra arguments for the node
         """
-        cmd = [ExecutableInPackage(package=package, executable=node_executable)]
+        if package is not None:
+            cmd = [ExecutableInPackage(package=package, executable=node_executable)]
+        else:
+            cmd = [node_executable]
         cmd += [] if arguments is None else arguments
         # Reserve space for ros specific arguments.
         # The substitutions will get expanded when the action is executed.
@@ -235,7 +239,9 @@ def parse(cls, entity: Entity, parser: Parser):
         node_name = entity.get_attr('node-name', optional=True)
         if node_name is not None:
             kwargs['node_name'] = node_name
-        kwargs['package'] = parser.parse_substitution(entity.get_attr('pkg'))
+        package = parser.parse_substitution(entity.get_attr('pkg'), optional=True)
+        if package is not None:
+            kwargs['package'] = package
         kwargs['node_executable'] = parser.parse_substitution(entity.get_attr('exec'))
         ns = entity.get_attr('namespace', optional=True)
         if ns is not None:

launch_testing_ros/setup.py

@@ -13,10 +13,6 @@
         ('share/launch_testing_ros/examples', glob.glob('test/examples/[!_]*.*')),
     ],
     entry_points={
-        'console_scripts': [
-            'example_talker = launch_testing_ros.examples.talker:main',
-            'example_listener = launch_testing_ros.examples.listener:main'
-        ],
         'pytest11': ['launch_ros = launch_testing_ros.pytest.hooks'],
     },
     install_requires=['setuptools'],

launch_testing_ros/test/examples/talker_listener_launch_test.py

@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
+import os
+import sys
 import time
 import unittest
 import uuid
@@ -32,16 +34,18 @@ def generate_test_description(ready_fn):
     # 'chatter' topic, but we want to show how to use remappings to munge the data so we
     # will remap these topics when we launch the nodes and insert our own node that can
     # change the data as it passes through
+    path_to_test = os.path.dirname(__file__)
+
     talker_node = launch_ros.actions.Node(
-        package='launch_testing_ros',
-        node_executable='example_talker',
+        node_executable=sys.executable,
+        arguments=[os.path.join(path_to_test, 'talker.py')],
         additional_env={'PYTHONUNBUFFERED': '1'},
         remappings=[('chatter', 'talker_chatter')]
     )
 
     listener_node = launch_ros.actions.Node(
-        package='launch_testing_ros',
-        node_executable='example_listener',
+        node_executable=sys.executable,
+        arguments=[os.path.join(path_to_test, 'listener.py')],
         additional_env={'PYTHONUNBUFFERED': '1'},
         remappings=[('chatter', 'listener_chatter')]
     )