Usb_cam orphaned - offer to support

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So the usb_cam package is listed as an orphaned package and has many issues/open PR’s that could help bring some life back into it…especially for the newer ROS2 releases (Foxy, Galactic, Rolling, etc.)

More than happy to volunteer on the side to help maintain the package - who can I talk to to be added as an owner of the repo so we can keep the releases all in one place?

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Note that there is an alternative package:

The package seems to be actively maintained. For example, the ROS 2 version is available:
https://index.ros.org/r/v4l2_camera/

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Also there is GitHub - klintan/ros2_usb_camera: ROS2 USB Camera node

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@lukicdarkoo @agutenkunst these are both great recommendations, however I think this also touches on a problem that happened in ROS1: where we would have five semi-developed packages all doing similar things. I remember looking for an IMU driver and I found at least 5 that all did part of what I was looking for but none did them all.

The package I linked to in the OP is hosted in the ‘ros-drivers’ org, which probably is one of the first places people look if they are trying to find a camera driver.

Also, the first package I linked to has >20 PRs and >50 issues…indicating there is a healthy amount of users already with people familiar with the package. Most likely it will be the first place they turn too when migrating to ROS2.

I think it would make sense for us as a community to step in and offer support here to bring it up into the ROS2 world.

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I agree that fragmentation of a basic package for something like a camera package is not always desired. I think some of these packages can still fulfill different purposes though. When I built the ros2_usb_camera there were no other out there that I could find, and I wanted to keep it simple and opencv based.

All that being said: I’m def open to all improvements, and @agutenkunst just put in some great effort for a PR I just merged. If someone is willing to go in as maintainer I’m open for that as well :). In addition I think there is value of having several packages to select from at least if they have somewhat different aim.

I’m going to try to do a release of the package today.

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Our recommendation for orphaned packages is that you bump the current maintainer at least a couple of times over a couple of different media. The best case scenario is that the derelict maintainer says, “Yes please take over my package.” If we can’t get that to happen we generally want to see documentation of contact prior to swapping out a package for a fork. Feel free to drop my a line at kat@openroboticsorg and we can work through the steps.

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just was granted access to the repo yesterday!

If there is anyone interested in adding features/fixing bugs for the ROS2 usb_cam package - PR’s welcome! :smiley:

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to follow this topic up if anyone ends up here…ROS2 usb_cam package is almost ready for release!

Feel free to clone it, test it and use it as you wish! Issues and PR’s welcome!

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