diff --git a/ros/src/foxglove_bridge/src/message_definition_cache.cpp b/ros/src/foxglove_bridge/src/message_definition_cache.cpp
index 9c975f973..61a8e340b 100644
--- a/ros/src/foxglove_bridge/src/message_definition_cache.cpp
+++ b/ros/src/foxglove_bridge/src/message_definition_cache.cpp
@@ -215,7 +215,19 @@ const MessageSpec& MessageDefinitionCache::load_message_spec(
   }
 
   // Get the package share directory, or throw a PackageNotFoundError
-  const std::string share_dir = ament_index_cpp::get_package_share_directory(package);
+  // Suppress deprecation warnings for this API call. The newer API signature
+  // (taking std::filesystem::path& as an out parameter) is only available in
+  // ROS 2 rolling and later distributions. To support older distributions,
+  // we continue using the old API until all supported distributions have been updated.
+#if defined(__GNUC__) || defined(__clang__)
+  #pragma GCC diagnostic push
+  #pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wdeprecated-declarations"
+#endif
+  const std::string share_dir_str = ament_index_cpp::get_package_share_directory(package);
+#if defined(__GNUC__) || defined(__clang__)
+  #pragma GCC diagnostic pop
+#endif
+  const std::filesystem::path share_dir(share_dir_str);
 
   // Get the rosidl_interfaces index contents for this package
   std::string index_contents;
@@ -234,7 +246,7 @@ const MessageSpec& MessageDefinitionCache::load_message_spec(
   }
 
   // Read the file
-  const std::string full_path = share_dir + std::filesystem::path::preferred_separator + *it;
+  const std::filesystem::path full_path = share_dir / *it;
   std::ifstream file{full_path};
   if (!file.good()) {
     throw DefinitionNotFoundError(definition_identifier.package_resource_name);