Migration Guide

This page captures noteworthy source-level changes between stable releases so you can migrate projects with minimal surprises. Only migrations for published versions are listed here; when a new major release approaches we will expand the guide accordingly.

DART 6 → DART 7

Component Headers Renamed

Change: <component>.hpp → All.hpp

// Before
#include <dart/dynamics/dynamics.hpp>
#include <dart/collision/collision.hpp>

// After
#include <dart/dynamics/All.hpp>
#include <dart/collision/All.hpp>

Note: Old headers still work but show deprecation warnings (removed in a future major release).

Suppress warnings (if needed during migration):

#define DART_SUPPRESS_DEPRECATED_HEADER_WARNING
#include <dart/dynamics/dynamics.hpp>

Header Names: PascalCase → snake_case

Change: PascalCase headers → snake_case headers

// Before
#include <dart/dynamics/BodyNode.hpp>
#include <dart/collision/CollisionDetector.hpp>

// After
#include <dart/dynamics/body_node.hpp>
#include <dart/collision/collision_detector.hpp>

Note: PascalCase headers continue to compile in DART 7.x but emit deprecation warnings. They are slated for removal in the next major release.

Suppress warnings (if needed during migration):

#define DART_SUPPRESS_DEPRECATED_HEADER_WARNING
#include <dart/dynamics/BodyNode.hpp>  // No warning

Collision Detector Runtime

Change: the built-in DART collision detector is the normal runtime collision stack. Use the dart factory key, DartCollisionDetector, or the default detector instead of selecting FCL, Bullet, or ODE as runtime backends.

The C++ factory keys fcl, fcl_mesh, bullet, and ode and the C++ classes FCLCollisionDetector, BulletCollisionDetector, and OdeCollisionDetector remain as DART 7 migration facades for downstream source compatibility. These names route to the built-in DART detector; they do not select external runtime engines.

The dartpy API intentionally keeps the cleaner DART 7 surface. Python code should use dartpy.DartCollisionDetector or the default detector. The legacy dartpy detector aliases DARTCollisionDetector, FCLCollisionDetector, BulletCollisionDetector, and OdeCollisionDetector are not retained as compatibility shims.

FCL, Bullet, and ODE remain available only as explicit reference-comparison dependencies for tests and benchmarks. Enable those through the reference test/benchmark gates, normally via the collision-reference Pixi environment; normal core DART, dartpy, package, and downstream runtime builds do not use per-engine collision build switches.

Need another migration?

Looking for guidance on a different upgrade path? Open a discussion or issue on GitHub so we can expand this page with the details you need.