Removing setuptools helper from ament_package

Recently, we discovered an issue with a new Python function added to ament_package, generate_setuptools_dict. Anyone using this function in their setup.py will find that their packages will fail to build on the buildfarm. You can find more discussion on the original GitHub ticket.

The feature was recently released into Foxy, however we are planning to remove the function to avoid users running into issues with the buildfarm. This will break source builds for anyone currently using the feature, but considering the feature has only been released for a few days we’re hoping that the impact will be small. You can expect a Foxy sync this week removing the change.

Looking forward, we would like to see an equivalent feature in the ROS 2 ecosystem that avoids such issues on the buildfarm.

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How/where/when should we start the discussion on this?

Since it is not clear where such a feature should live, I suggest opening a ticket on ros2/ros2. @christophebedard If you have the cycles, would you like to create the ticket?

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Sure, I’ll open one!

For reference, here it is: Add setuptools helper to deduplicate package.xml and setup.py metadata · Issue #1132 · ros2/ros2 · GitHub

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