find_package(PCL 1.2 REQUIRED) using CMake returns wrong path

Question

I'm using an Ubuntu 12.04 machine and I have the following problem: I'm trying to compile and build a C++ file using CMake, but when I give the command "make" after "cmake .." I get the error:

pcl_openni_grabber.cpp:2:29: fatal error: pcl/point_cloud.h: No such file or directory compilation terminated.

Now my CMakeLists.txt it's the following:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8 FATAL_ERROR)

project(pcl-openni-grabber)

find_package(PCL 1.2 REQUIRED)

include_directories(${PCL_INCLUDE_DIRS})
link_directories(${PCL_LIBRARY_DIRS})
add_definitions(${PCL_DEFINITIONS})

add_executable (pcl_openni_grabber pcl_openni_grabber.cpp)
target_link_libraries (pcl_openni_grabber ${PCL_LIBRARIES})

where the environment variable PCL_INCLUDE_DIRS contains:

/usr/include/pcl-1.5

Now after 2 hours of work to understand the problem, I found it in the command find_package(). In practice when I run "cmake .." it returns the wrong path to the libraries of pcl (point cloud library). Indeed this is the output of "cmake ..":

-- The C compiler identification is GNU
-- The CXX compiler identification is GNU
-- Check for working C compiler: /usr/bin/gcc
-- Check for working C compiler: /usr/bin/gcc -- works
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/bin/c++
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/bin/c++ -- works
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
-- checking for module 'eigen3'
--   found eigen3, version 3.0.5
-- Found eigen: /usr/include/eigen3 
-- Boost version: 1.46.1
-- Found the following Boost libraries:
--   system
--   filesystem
--   thread
--   date_time
--   iostreams
-- checking for module 'flann'
--   found flann, version 1.7.1
-- Found Flann: /opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libflann_cpp_s.a 
-- checking for module 'openni-dev'
--   found openni-dev, version 1.5.2.23~precise
-- Found openni: /usr/lib/libOpenNI.so 
-- Found libusb-1.0: /usr/include 
-- Found qhull: /usr/lib/libqhull.so 
-- looking for PCL_COMMON
-- Found PCL_COMMON: /opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_common.so 
-- looking for PCL_KDTREE
-- Found PCL_KDTREE: /opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_kdtree.so 
-- looking for PCL_OCTREE
-- Found PCL_OCTREE: /opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_octree.so 
-- looking for PCL_SEARCH
-- Found PCL_SEARCH: /opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_search.so 
-- looking for PCL_SAMPLE_CONSENSUS
-- Found PCL_SAMPLE_CONSENSUS: /opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_sample_consensus.so 
-- looking for PCL_FILTERS
-- Found PCL_FILTERS: /opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_filters.so 
-- looking for PCL_TRACKING
-- Found PCL_TRACKING: /opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_tracking.so 
-- looking for PCL_IO
-- Found PCL_IO: /opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_io.so 
-- looking for PCL_FEATURES
-- Found PCL_FEATURES: /opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_features.so 
-- looking for PCL_REGISTRATION
-- Found PCL_REGISTRATION: /opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_registration.so 
-- looking for PCL_SEGMENTATION
-- Found PCL_SEGMENTATION: /opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_segmentation.so 
-- looking for PCL_SURFACE
-- Found PCL_SURFACE: /opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_surface.so 
-- looking for PCL_VISUALIZATION
-- Found PCL_VISUALIZATION: /opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_visualization.so 
-- looking for PCL_KEYPOINTS
-- Found PCL_KEYPOINTS: /opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_keypoints.so 
-- Found PCL: /usr/lib/libboost_system-mt.so;/usr/lib/libboost_filesystem-mt.so;/usr/lib/libboost_thread-mt.so;pthread;/usr/lib/libboost_date_time-mt.so;/usr/lib/libboost_iostreams-mt.so;optimized;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_common.so;debug;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_common.so;optimized;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libflann_cpp_s.a;debug;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libflann_cpp_s-gd.a;optimized;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_kdtree.so;debug;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_kdtree.so;optimized;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_octree.so;debug;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_octree.so;optimized;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_search.so;debug;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_search.so;optimized;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_sample_consensus.so;debug;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_sample_consensus.so;optimized;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_filters.so;debug;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_filters.so;optimized;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_tracking.so;debug;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_tracking.so;/usr/lib/libOpenNI.so;vtkCommon;vtkRendering;vtkHybrid;optimized;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_io.so;debug;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_io.so;optimized;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_features.so;debug;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_features.so;optimized;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_registration.so;debug;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_registration.so;optimized;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_segmentation.so;debug;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_segmentation.so;optimized;/usr/lib/libqhull.so;debug;/usr/lib/libqhull.so;optimized;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_surface.so;debug;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_surface.so;optimized;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_visualization.so;debug;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_visualization.so;optimized;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_keypoints.so;debug;/opt/ros/fuerte/lib/libpcl_keypoints.so (Required is at least version "1.2")
-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: /home/jacopo/dev/university/prova/build

As you can see, it returns the path to the pcl library of a particular package of ros (Robot Operating System) which is installed via Synaptic Package Manager on "/opt/ros" directory. The right pcl library and includes are in "/usr/include/pcl.1.5" and "/usr/lib".

When uninstalling ros, find_package returns the right paths and I'm be able to compile and build without problems. But since I need ros for university and at the same time I need cmake, how can I have cmake working having ros installed? Any idea?

Answer 1

You can fine-tune the search path in the find_package command:

find_package(PCL 1.2 REQUIRED PATHS /usr NO_DEFAULT_PATH)

This might be a bit brute-force; you could maybe find a better way to exclude /opt from consideration when CMake searches for the package.

As an aside, you probably shouldn't use link_directories. The documentation indicates why it's not usually needed.