Catkin package with python bindings for roscpp to ensure that ros::init() and ros::shutdown() are called appropiately. Code adapted from moveit's ROScppInitializer Class. For use case, see ROS tutorial on how to use a C++ Class with ROS Messages in Python.
Currently only works with Python 3 and has only been tested on Ubuntu 16.04.
Install the appropiate version of ROS and the following dependencies:
$ sudo apt-get install libboost-all-dev python3-dev libpython3-dev python-catkin-toolsFollow the instructions in this section if you have multiple versions of python on your machine to make sure Boost can find python 3. Use pkg-config to find the correct python3 include directory. Your output should be similar to:
$ pkg-config --cflags python3
-I/usr/include/python3.5m -I/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/python3.5mThen run echo $CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH to check if it has the first include path listed above. If not, then add the following to your .bashrc: export CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH="$CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH:/usr/include/python3.5m/". Remember to use the path outputed by pkg-config.
Clone the package into a catkin workspace and build the workspace:
$ mkdir catkin_ws
$ cd catkin_ws && mkdir src $$ cd src
$ catkin_init_workspace
$ git clone https://github.com/vinitha910/roscpp_initializer.git
< CLONE OTHER NECESSARY REPOSITORIES >
$ cd ~/catkin_ws
$ catkin buildInclude the following lines in your python script before instanciating the python-wrapped C++ class that requires ros::NodeHandle:
from roscpp_initializer import roscpp_initializer
roscpp_initializer.roscpp_init("NODE_NAME", [])