ROS_PACKAGE_PATH for catkin beginners

Question

Section 1.2.2 of beginner level tutorial "8.Using rqt_console and roslaunch" says:

*If roscd fails, remember to set the ROS_PACKAGE_PATH variable in your terminal. Then the commands will look like this:

$ export ROS_PACKAGE_PATH=~/<distro>_workspace/sandbox:$ROS_PACKAGE_PATH*

I followed the catkin based tutorial and found out that this doesnt work. I use ros-groovy on Ubuntu 12.10.I tried

export ROS_PACKAGE_PATH=~/catkin_ws/src:$ROS_PACKAGE_PATH

which solved the issue. I guess whats given in the tutorial is based on rosbuild. Perhaps a mention on catkin based command would help beginners.

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Originally posted by Maheshwar Venkat on ROS Answers with karma: 5 on 2013-04-10

Post score: 0

Answer 1

Did you ever source ~/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash (or source ~/catkin_ws/install/setup.bash)? That step should set your ROS_PACKAGE_PATH.

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Originally posted by William with karma: 17335 on 2013-04-10

This answer was ACCEPTED on the original site

Post score: 2

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Original comments

Comment by Maheshwar Venkat on 2013-04-10:
does it remain set even if i restart my computer or something ?

Comment by William on 2013-04-10:
No, you have to source the setup.bash file each time you open a terminal. If you are going to be working with the same workspace for a long time you can put the source /path/to/setup.bash command in your ~/.bashrc file which will run each time you open a terminal.

Comment by Maheshwar Venkat on 2013-04-10:
resolved and understood. thanks.!