Qix (Software Build System)

Intro

Qix is a declarative software build system for Docker-based robotics environments that generates containerized software stacks from TOML config files.

Qix is a CLI tool that uses a TOML configuration file to automatically generate files such as:

• Dockerfiles
• Docker Compose files
• Bash setup scripts

Setup

• Install UV

• Install qix

git clone git@github.gatech.edu:ASDL-Robotics/qix.git
uv tool install ./qix # if you are developing, include the '-e' flag

Qix Stack

A qix stack is a declarative definition of a containerized software environment stored in a qixstack.toml file that can specify:

• A base container image (Ubuntu, ROS, etc.)

• System packages to install (APT dependencies)

• Source repositories to clone (Git dependencies)

• Build instructions (e.g., colcon workspaces)

• and more

• Install a qix stack

qix stack install <path_to_directory>

Qix reads the qixstack.toml file and generates the required container, build, and setup files needed to create the environment.