Adding the compilation tutorial to the documentation.

doc/CompilationPython.md

@@ -0,0 +1,182 @@
+| [Tutorials Home](index.md) | [Previous](ImportExport.md) | [Next](PythonModule.md) |
+| :--- | :---: | ---: |
+
+# Compiling libpointmatcher with python
+
+This tutorial presents the different steps of compiling pypointmatcher, the libpointmatcher's python module, on Ubuntu and Mac OS X.
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+To get started, you will obviously need the same prerequisites as libpointmatcher, but also some additional dependencies as listed here :
+
+| Name | Version <br> (Tested August 2020 on Ubuntu 18.04) |
+| :--- | :---: |
+| pybind11 | 2.5.0 |
+| Python3 | 3.6.9 |
+|||
+| **Dependencies** | |
+| catch | 1.10.0 |
+| python3-dev | 3.6.7 |
+| pytest | 5.4.3 |
+
+<br>
+`catch` and `python3-dev` need to be installed with the package manager :
+
+```bash
+sudo apt install catch python3-dev
+```
+
+and `pytest` with `pip` :
+
+```bash
+pip3 install pytest
+```
+
+> ***Note :*** pybind11 is also compatible with Python2.7, which means that it is also possible to generate a module for Python2.7. But, this hasn't been tested. You can refer to the pybind11 [official documentation](https://pybind11.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html) for more informations on what you can do with pybind11 and how to do it.
+
+The rest of this tutorial will guide you through the necessary steps to compile pypointmatcher.
+
+## pybind11
+
+In order to be able to compile pypointmatcher, you must either install pybind11 on your system or add it as a git submodule in the libpointmatcher's `/contrib` directory. You must then create a symbolic link to this git submodule in the python directory. Go [here](#installing-pybind11) for the installation steps or [here](#adding-pybind11) for the git sudmodule steps.
+
+### Installing pybind11 (recommended) <a name="installing-pybind11"></a>
+
+The very first step is to clone pybind11 [repository](https://github.com/pybind/pybind11) into a directory of your choice. Once this is done, run the following commands :
+
+```bash
+cd pybind11
+mkdir build && cd build
+cmake ..
+make check -j 4
+```
+
+This will both compile and run the pybind11 tests. Next, you can install pybind11 by running this command :
+
+```bash
+sudo make install
+```
+
+Once this is done, you can go to libpointmatcher's `/build` directory.
+
+You're now ready to proceed to the [configuration step](#configuration).
+
+### Adding pybind11 as a `git` submodule <a name="adding-pybind11"></a>
+
+An alternative to installing pybind11 on your system is to add its repository as a git submodule and create a symbolic link into the python directory. To do this, you will first need to clone the repository as a git submodule by running the following commands in your terminal from the contrib directory.
+
+```bash
+cd contrib
+git submodule add https://github.com/pybind/pybind11.git
+```
+
+This will add pybind11 as a git submodule of libpointmatcher into the contrib directory. Then, still from the contrib directory, run this command to create a symbolic link to pybind11 in the python directory :
+
+```bash
+ln -sr pybind11 ../python/pybind11
+```
+
+At the moment, pypointmatcher can only be compiled with **version 2.5.0** of pybind11. To do this, run the following commands :
+
+```bash
+cd pybind11
+git checkout v2.5.0
+```
+
+Before going any further, the `CMakeLists.txt` file from the `/python` directory needs to be modified as follows :
+
+```cmake
+#find_package(pybind11 2.5.0 REQUIRED)
+add_subdirectory(pybind11) # add this line
+
+# Everything in between remains unchanged
+
+#if (pybind11_FOUND)
+#    message(STATUS "pybind11 v${pybind11_VERSION}")
+
+    pybind11_add_module(pypointmatcher ${PYBIND11_SOURCES})
+
+    target_link_libraries(pypointmatcher
+                          PRIVATE
+                          pointmatcher
+                          ${EXTERNAL_LIBS})
+
+    add_dependencies(pypointmatcher pointmatcher)
+
+    install(TARGETS pypointmatcher LIBRARY DESTINATION ${PYTHON_INSTALL_TARGET})
+#else ()
+#	message(FATAL_ERROR "pybind11 is required! Please follow the \"Compiling \
+#libpointmatcher's with python\" instructions from the official libpointmatcher's documentation.")
+#endif ()
+```
+
+> ***IMPORTANT :*** When this method is used, it is very important to checkout the version **2.5.0** of pybind11 or it will be impossible to generate the build files.
+
+Once this is done, you can go to libpointmatcher's `/build` directory.
+
+You're now ready to proceed to the [configuration step](#configuration).
+
+## Configuring the variables <a name="configuration"></a>
+
+> ***Note :*** *It is recommended to create a virtual python environment before proceeding with the next steps.*
+
+#### Specifying the path
+
+First, you need to specify where you want the module to be installed. To do so, you must provide the path by setting the CMake variable `PYTHON_INSTALL_TARGET` with an absolute path to your python's environment `site-packages` location. This can be achieve manually or automatically.
+
+##### The manual way :
+
+Launch the python interpreter and run the following commands to find the path to the `/site-packages` directory :
+
+```bash
+>>> import site
+>>> site.getsitepackages()
+```
+
+> ***Note :*** If you are using the system's python environment, replace the `getsitepackages()` function call by `getusersitepackages()`.
+
+This will output a list of installation's path for your current python environment. Now, choose the one that is located in the `python_env_path/lib/python3.x` directory. The command to run should looks like this :
+
+```bash
+cmake -D PYTHON_INSTALL_TARGET=python_env_path/lib/python3.x/site-packages ..
+```
+
+##### The automatic way :
+
+If you don't want to set the path manually, here's a command that should automatically pick the right one for you :
+
+```bash
+cmake -D PYTHON_INSTALL_TARGET=$(python3 -c "import site; print(site.getsitepackages()[0])") ..
+```
+
+> ***Note :*** If you are using the system's python environment, replace the `site.getsitepackages()[0]` by `site.getusersitepackages()`.
+
+> ***IMPORTANT :*** *This last example is the default behavior if no path has been set before compiling the module.* ***Please, make sure that this correspond to a valid location or this will lead to an import error.***
+
+#### Enabling the compilation
+
+By default, pypointmatcher compilation is disabled. In order to compile it, you must set the CMake variable `BUILD_PYTHON_MODULE` to `ON` :
+
+```bash
+cmake -D BUILD_PYTHON_MODULE=ON ..
+```
+
+Everything is now set up to proceed to the compilation and the installation.
+
+## Compilation
+
+Now, to compile pypointmatcher into the `/build` directory, run the following command:
+
+```bash
+make pypointmatcher -j N
+```
+
+***Note :*** *Depending on your system, the compilation can take quite some time, so consider leaving the `-j` command with no argument in order to speed up this step.*
+
+## Installation
+
+And finally, to install the module on your system, run the following command :
+
+```bash
+sudo make install
+```

mkdocs.yml

@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ nav:
     - 'The ICP chain configuration and its variants': 'DefaultICPConfig.md'
     - 'Configuring libpointmatcher using YAML': 'Configuration.md'
     - 'Supported file types and importing/exporting point clouds': 'ImportExport.md'
+- Python:
+      - 'Compiling libpointmatcher with Python': 'CompilationPython.md'
 - Advanced:
     - 'How to link a project to libpointmatcher': 'LinkingProjects.md'
     - 'How to use libpointmatcher in ROS?': 'UsingInRos.md'