Build

This page describes the DART 6 LTS source-build paths for the main development branch. The current source version is read from package.xml; until release packaging bumps it, this branch can still report a 6.19.x package version while collecting changes for DART 6.20.0.

Recommended Pixi build

The reproducible developer path is the Pixi environment tracked in pixi.toml. It supplies the compiler tools, CMake, Ninja, Python, Doxygen, Sphinx, test tools, and the C++ dependencies used by the branch.

pixi run config
pixi run build
pixi run build-py-dev

Run the relevant verification gates from the same environment:

pixi run lint
pixi run test
pixi run test-py
pixi run docs-build

pixi run test-all builds the default aggregate CMake target. The default configuration enables testing, so that aggregate also runs CTest and the Python tests through the CMake graph. Run lint separately, and use the focused test tasks when you need clearer failure output.

Core requirements

For manual builds, use the versions and dependency set in the source tree as the authority:

CMake minimum: 3.22.1 from CMakeLists.txt.
Language level: C++17 from the DART CMake targets.
Build system: Ninja is the Pixi default; other CMake generators can work.
Core package dependencies: Assimp, Eigen, FCL, fmt, Bullet, ODE, OctoMap, spdlog, tinyxml2, urdfdom, and OpenSceneGraph.
dartpy dependencies: Python, NumPy, and pybind11.

Manual CMake build

Install the dependencies with your platform package manager or use the Pixi environment as the dependency prefix. Then configure and build:

cmake -G Ninja -S . -B build/default/cpp/Release \
    -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
    -DDART_BUILD_DARTPY=ON \
    -DDART_BUILD_PROFILE=ON \
    -DDART_USE_SYSTEM_GOOGLEBENCHMARK=ON \
    -DDART_USE_SYSTEM_GOOGLETEST=ON \
    -DDART_USE_SYSTEM_IMGUI=ON \
    -DDART_USE_SYSTEM_PYBIND11=ON \
    -DDART_USE_SYSTEM_TRACY=ON
cmake --build build/default/cpp/Release -j

Use -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=<prefix> when dependencies are installed outside the compiler’s default search paths.

Important CMake options

The source-of-truth option list is in CMakeLists.txt. Common branch options include:

Option	Default	Purpose
`DART_BUILD_DARTPY`	`OFF`	Build the Python bindings.
`DART_BUILD_GUI_OSG`	`ON`	Build the OpenSceneGraph GUI component.
`DART_ENABLE_GUI_OSG_SMOKE_TESTS`	`OFF`	Build off-screen GUI capture smoke tests when a display or Xvfb is available.
`DART_ENABLE_SIMD`	`OFF`	Add local-machine SIMD compiler flags such as `-march=native`.
`DART_SIMD_FORCE_SCALAR`	`OFF`	Force the header-only `dart/simd` module to use its scalar fallback backend in tests.
`DART_BUILD_PROFILE`	`OFF`	Build profiling support.
`DART_PROFILE_BUILTIN`	`ON`	Enable DART’s built-in text profiling backend.
`DART_PROFILE_TRACY`	`OFF`	Enable the Tracy profiling backend for local developer profiling.
`DART_USE_SYSTEM_IMGUI`	`OFF`	Use a system ImGui package instead of the bundled compatibility target.
`DART_USE_SYSTEM_PYBIND11`	`OFF`	Use a system pybind11 package.

Build targets

Useful CMake targets include:

all: build the default libraries and tools.
tests: build the C++ tests.
test: run CTest after tests are built.
examples: build examples.
tutorials: build tutorials.
dartpy: build the Python bindings.
pytest: run Python tests through the CMake target.
install: install the configured components.
view_docs: build and open local documentation.

For most development work, prefer the Pixi task names above because they encode the branch’s expected build directory, dependency prefix, and platform-specific settings.