rpg_dvs_ros: Error when building davis_ros_driver

Hello, I am also using Ubuntu 14.04 and experienced the same error as @pertierre (installation on a different computer with Ubuntu 17.04 worked fine, with 14.04 I got the error '/home/.../lib/libcaer.so' needed by '/home/.../lib/liblibcaer_catkin.so'). Since I can currently not update to 16.04, I delved into the issue a little further and found a workaround. Basically, I discovered the following things:

• the doubling of “lib” in the library name is due to the cs_add_library() command in line 21 of libcear’s CMakeLists.txt. By replacing ${PROJECT_NAME} with caer_catkin and doing the same in the subsequent two lines, I solved the naming issue. However,
• the doubling of “lib” was not the main problem. Apparently, the libcaer shared object filed got installed to ${CATKIN_DEVEL_PREFIX}/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/, whereas line 24 of the CMakeLists looks for them in ${CATKIN_DEVEL_PREFIX}/lib/. I extended the path on that line and was able to install libcaer_catkin that way.
• the other packages (dvs_ros_driver etc.) still look for libcaer under the wrong path. Therefore, after installing libcaer_catkin, I added a symbolic link to ${CATKIN_DEVEL_PREFIX}/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcaer.so at ${CATKIN_DEVEL_PREFIX}/lib/libcaer.so. Afterwards, I was able to install all other packages as well.

I tested the installation by connecting a DVS and running the DVS renderer. The installation seems to work. But probably there is a more principled way to do this than with this workaround.

I am not currently able to upgrade to Kinetic but I will try to find away around this problem. It is mostly a linking problem so it should be fixable. I will update you when I find a solution

Is this your actual error message?

no rule to make '/home/.../lib/libcaer.so' needed by '/home/.../lib/liblibcaer_catkin.so

That’s a different problem than #23. Something else must be happening. The path /home/.../lib/liblibcaer_catkin.so does not seem right… it probably shouldn’t be liblibcaer_catkin.so. Are there any modifications to any cmake files? Have you sourced your workspace after cleaning?

Could you try making the changes in pull request https://github.com/uzh-rpg/rpg_dvs_ros/pull/38 and retry building?