Installing ROS 2 Humble on Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish)

Robot Operating System (ROS) 2 is a powerful framework for building robotic applications. ROS 2 Humble Hawksbill is the Long-Term Support (LTS) release recommended for Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish).

This tutorial provides a step-by-step guide to install ROS 2 Humble cleanly on Ubuntu 22.04.

System Requirements

• Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)
• Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
• Internet Connection
• Sudo privileges

Set Up System Locale

ROS 2 requires UTF-8 locale because it ensures reliable, global, and consistent text handling across Python, DDS, build tools, and distributed robotic systems.

Open your terminal and type following command

$locale

If UTF-8 is not enabled, run:

$sudo apt update
$sudo apt install locales
$sudo locale-gen en_US en_US.UTF-8
$sudo update-locale LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 LANG=en_US.UTF-8 export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Verify

$locale

Enable Required Ubuntu Repositories

ROS 2 depends on Ubuntu’s Universe repository, and software-properties-common provides the tools to enable it. Both are mandatory for a successful ROS 2 installation.

$sudo apt install software-properties-common
$sudo add-apt-repository universe
$sudo apt update

Install Required Tools

Install curl, which is used to fetch ROS keys and configuration files.

$sudo apt install curl -y

Add ROS 2 Repository (Recommended Method)

$sudo curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/ros.key \
-o /usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg

Add the ROS 2 APT Source

$echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/ros-archive-keyring.gpg] \
http://packages.ros.org/ros2/ubuntu $(. /etc/os-release && echo $UBUNTU_CODENAME) main" | \
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros2.list > /dev/null

Update package index:

$sudo apt update

Upgrade System Packages (Optional but Recommended)

$sudo apt upgrade -y

Install ROS 2 Humble

Desktop Installation (Recommended)

Includes RViz, demos, and common tools.

$sudo apt install ros-humble-desktop -y

Development Tools

$sudo apt install ros-dev-tools -y

Source the ROS 2 Environment

Before using ROS 2, source the setup file:

$source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash

Verify installation:

$printenv ROS_DISTRO

Automatically Source ROS 2 on Every Terminal

Add ROS 2 to your .bashrc:

$echo "source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc

Reload:

$source ~/.bashrc

Test ROS 2 Installation (Turtlesim)

Open two terminals.

Terminal 1:

$ros2 run turtlesim turtlesim_node

Terminal 2:

$ros2 run turtlesim turtle_teleop_key

If a turtle window appears and responds to keyboard input, ROS 2 is installed successfully!

Extra Useful Tools (Optional)

Visual Studio Code

$sudo snap install code --classic

Terminator Terminal

$sudo apt install terminator