Agent Installation FAQ
Can I limit the CPU and memory the agent uses?
Yes, the CPU and memory that the agent uses can be limited using systemctl as follows:
systemctl set-property formant-agent.service MemoryLimit=<value> systemctl set-property formant-agent.service CPUQuota=<value>
For example, to lock the agent to using a maximum of 1 core
systemctl set-property formant-agent.service CPUQuota=100%
Can I download the Formant agent and sidecar Debian packages directly?
Yes. See here for debian packages.
Install using dpkg -i <formant-package>.deb
Can I download the Formant agent and sidecar Debian packages directly?
Yes. See here for debian packages.
Install using dpkg -i <formant-package>.deb
Can I install the Formant agent on Windows or MacOS?
We support agent installation via docker container for non-Linux systems. See documentation on installing the agent in docker container.
What environment variables can I add to /var/lib/formant/.bashrc?
Here is a list of all optional environment variables that affect the behavior of the Formant agent.
Info
Please make sure to restart the agent (systemctl restart formant-agent) for the environment variables to take effect
// The IP address where the Formant Agent will start it's server
FORMANT_AGENT_IP
// The Unix Socket where the Formant Agent will start it's server
FORMANT_AGENT_GRPC_UNIX_SOCKET
// The port where the Formant Agent will expose the gRPC interface
FORMANT_AGENT_GRPC_PORT
// The port where the Formant Agent will expose the HTTP interface
FORMANT_AGENT_HTTP_PORT
// Enables the local port forwarding feature
FORMANT_PORT_FORWARDINGThe following environment variables are ROS-specific:
// The path to the root of the catkin workspace. The Formant agent uses this to find custom ROS message definitions
CATKIN_WS
// If the ROS setup files are not in <catkin_ws>/devel/setup.bash, the custom location of ROS setup script
SOURCE_SCRIPT
// The file location of the Python interpreter used by the tf2 bridge
FORMANT_AGENT_PYTHON_PATH
// The file location of the Python3 interpreter used by the ROS bridge
FORMANT_AGENT_PYTHON3_PATH
// The address of the ROS master to which the ROS Bridge connects
ROS_MASTER_URI
// The file localtion of the unix socket used for the ROS bridge
FORMANT_ROS_AGENT_GRPC_UNIX_SOCKET
// Enables replacement of timestamps on ROS messages with the current time
FORMANT_OVERRIDE_TIMESTAMP
How can I make the "formant" user use a different python than the system level python?
Export FORMANT_AGENT_PYTHON_PATH and FORMANT_AGENT_PYTHON3_PATH to the desired values in /var/lib/formant/.bashrc to specify the pythons the formant user will use. These values default to python and python3.
How can I source a custom script before the Formant agent process starts?
Export the SOURCE_SCRIPT environment variable in /var/lib/formant/.bashrc to the location of the custom script. The "formant" user will source the provided script before executing the Formant agent process.
Agent setup troubleshooting
The Formant agent ROS bridge is not running
Most parts of the formant agent ROS bridge are python3 processes. Try running import rospy in a python3 shell. If this import errors, you may have to install python3-roskpg-modules:
apt install python3-rospkg-modules
Please make sure you have the following packages installed on pyhton3 for ros_bridge:
rosgraph roslib rostopic std_msgs GTK gi sensor_msgs genpy actionlib_msgs geometry_msgs sensor_msgs
The following packages need to be installed on python2 for tf2_bridge:
rosgraph rospy tf2_ros genpy
ImportError: cannot import name Gst, introspection typelib not found
Some systems will not have a video streaming dependency installed. To fix, you can install the following:
apt install gir1.2-gst-rtsp-server-1.0
/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d returned 101, not running 'enable formant-agent.service'
The system's policy-rd.d may be set up to disallow enabling services. Edit /usr/sbin/policy-rc.d to exit 0 instead of 101.