---
id: rosdistro
version: "1.0.1"
license: BSD, MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# rosdistro — A tool to work with rosdistro files

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 84.1K/mo

## What it is and what it does

rosdistro is a utility library for working with ROS (Robot Operating System) distribution metadata. It provides tools to parse and access catkinized rosdistro files—YAML-based configuration files that define which packages, versions, and dependencies make up a particular ROS release. The package wraps lower-level ROS infrastructure (catkin-pkg, rospkg) and YAML parsing (PyYAML) to give developers programmatic access to distribution information.

It is primarily used by ROS build systems, release managers, and tooling that needs to inspect or validate package metadata across ROS distributions. The library has been actively maintained since 2013 and currently supports modern Python versions (3.6+). It carries no known security vulnerabilities and uses permissive licensing (BSD/MIT), making it safe to integrate into ROS-based projects.

Use it for:

- Query package metadata and dependencies from a specific ROS distribution release
- Validate rosdistro YAML files during ROS release engineering workflows
- Build tools that inspect or report on ROS ecosystem package structure and versions
- Automate dependency resolution across catkinized packages in a distribution
- Integrate ROS distribution data into CI/CD pipelines for ROS projects

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Parses and manipulates ROS distribution metadata files in YAML format, enabling programmatic access to package definitions and dependency information across ROS releases.

Yes, if you are working within the ROS ecosystem and need programmatic access to distribution metadata. The package is actively maintained, has low install friction, carries no security issues, and is licensed permissively. Install only if you are building ROS tooling or infrastructure; it has no utility outside ROS environments.

## Install

pip install rosdistro
uv add rosdistro
poetry add rosdistro

## Installing rosdistro

Before you install: Low friction installation with a pure-Python wheel. Active maintenance with recent commits (2026-05-22) and stable release history since 2013. Four runtime dependencies (PyYAML, setuptools, catkin-pkg, rospkg) are standard ROS ecosystem packages.

License in practice: Dual-licensed under BSD and MIT (both permissive). No restrictions on commercial or private use; you may use, modify, and distribute freely provided you retain license notices.

Quickstart:

pip install rosdistro

import rosdistro

# Load a distribution from the ROS index
distro = rosdistro.get_distribution_file('humble')

Requires Python 3.6 or later. Intended for use within ROS ecosystems; standalone utility outside ROS environments is limited.

Verify before relying:

- Whether rosdistro.get_distribution_file() and other public APIs are documented or discoverable from the package alone
- Whether the package works offline or requires network access to ROS index servers
- Compatibility with ROS 2 distributions versus ROS 1 only

## Package facts

- License: BSD, MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 84.1K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

ROS distribution metadata parsing, rosdistro file tools, catkin package distribution, ROS release management, catkinized package metadata, ROS ecosystem configuration, distribution file manipulation, ros-ecosystem, metadata-parsing, build-infrastructure

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