Modified this PR to be exactly the same as RobotLocomotion#2755.

drake/doc/from_source.rst

@@ -90,9 +90,11 @@ Before running build, you will need to follow the instructions for your host sys
 
 Build the collection
 ====================
-There are two supported ways to build Drake:
-`Make <https://www.gnu.org/software/make/>`_ and
-`Ninja <https://ninja-build.org/>`_.
+There are three ways to build Drake:
+
+1. Using `Make <https://www.gnu.org/software/make/>`_
+2. Using `Ninja <https://ninja-build.org/>`_
+3. Using `ROS Catkin <http://wiki.ros.org/catkin>`_
 
 Because the Drake build is not entirely out-of-source, you must pick one build
 system and stick to it. Switching build systems within the same working tree
@@ -179,6 +181,18 @@ To review the raw shell commands, compiler flags, and linker flags that CMake
 generated, consult ``build.ninja`` and ``drake/build.ninja``, or run
 ``ninja -v`` for a verbose build.
 
+.. _build_with_ros_catkin:
+
+Build with ROS Catkin
+---------------------
+
+See:
+
+.. toctree::
+    :maxdepth: 1
+
+    from_source_ros
+
 Test Your Installation
 ======================
 

drake/doc/from_source_ros.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+.. _build_from_source_using_ros_catkin:
+
+**************************************
+Building Drake as a ROS Catkin Package
+**************************************
+
+.. _drake_ros_catkin_introduction:
+
+Introduction
+============
+
+The `Robot Operating System (ROS) <http://www.ros.org/>`_ provides a software
+platform for conducting advanced robotics research and development. Since its
+`creation in the mid 2000s <http://www.ros.org/history/>`_, ROS has
+attained a `tremendous following <http://wiki.ros.org/Metrics>`_ due in part to
+its integration of many infrastructure-level components that are important to
+robotics and the increased collaborative potential resulting from platform
+standardization. It is arguably among the most successful open source robotics
+platforms to date in terms of fostering collaboration, research, and innovation
+within robotics.
+
+
+Drake can be configured to be a package within a ROS workspace. Instructions for
+how to do this are given below. Before starting, ensure
+`ROS is installed <http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Installation>`_
+and your public SSH key is
+`added to your github account <https://help.github.com/articles/adding-a-new-ssh-key-to-your-github-account/>`_.
+
+The following instructions are known to work on
+`Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS (Trusty Tahr) <http://releases.ubuntu.com/14.04/>`_ and
+`ROS Indigo <http://wiki.ros.org/indigo>`_. Other versions of the OS and ROS
+may or may not work. They also assume you want to create a *new* ROS workspace
+in ``~/dev`` called ``drake_catkin_workspace``. The commands below can be
+customized with a different workspace name and location.
+
+If you already have a ROS Catkin workspace and simply want to add Drake as a
+package within it, you can skip :ref:`create_catkin_workspace` and proceed to
+:ref:`add_and_compile_drake_to_ros_workspace`.
+
+.. _create_catkin_workspace:
+
+Step 1: Create a ROS Catkin Workspace
+=====================================
+
+To create a ROS Catkin workspace, open a terminal and execute the following
+commands::
+
+    mkdir -p ~/dev/drake_catkin_workspace/src
+    cd ~/dev/drake_catkin_workspace/src
+    source /opt/ros/indigo/setup.bash
+    catkin_init_workspace
+    cd ..
+    catkin_make
+
+.. _add_and_compile_drake_to_ros_workspace:
+
+Step 2: Add Drake to the ROS Catkin Workspace and Re-Build the Workspace
+========================================================================
+
+To add Drake to your ROS Catkin workspace, execute the following commands (note:
+you may need to customize the commands below if you elected to place the
+workspace in a different location)::
+
+    cd src
+    git clone [email protected]:RobotLocomotion/drake.git
+    cd ..
+    catkin_make
+
+There are numerous optional flags that can be included after the ``catkin_make``
+command listed above. For example, one flag is ``-DDISABLE_MATLAB=TRUE`, which
+disables MATLAB support, which may be useful if you have MATLAB installed but
+don't have access to a license server. There are many additional command line
+flags that, for example, enables support for certain optimizers like
+`SNOPT <http://www.sbsi-sol-optimize.com/asp/sol_product_snopt.htm>`_.
+For a full list of these optional command line flags, see the variables defined
+in ``~/dev/drake_catkin_workspace/src/drake/CMakeLists.txt``.
+
+Note also that Catkin by default performs a multi-threaded build.
+If your computer does not have sufficient computational resources to support
+this, you can add a ``-j1`` flag after the ``catkin_make`` command to force a
+single-threaded build, which uses fewer resources.

package.xml

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 This XML file is used by ROS. It declares that this directory and all of its
 subdirectories constitute a ROS package. It further enables Drake to be compiled
 by the Catkin build system. For more information see the following websites:
+
 http://wiki.ros.org/catkin
 http://wiki.ros.org/catkin/package.xml
 -->