QUALITY_DECLARATION

This document is a declaration of software quality for the rmw_implementation package, based on the guidelines in REP-2004.

rmw_implementation Quality Declaration

The package rmw_implementation claims to be in the Quality Level 1 category when it is used with a Quality Level 1 middleware.

Below are the rationales, notes, and caveats for this claim, organized by each requirement listed in the Package Requirements for Quality Level 1 in REP-2004.

Version Policy [1]

Version Scheme [1.i]

rmw_implementation uses semver according to the recommendation for ROS Core packages in the ROS 2 Developer Guide.

Version Stability [1.ii]

rmw_implementation is at a stable version, i.e. >= 1.0.0. The current version can be found in its package.xml, and its change history can be found in its CHANGELOG.

Public API Declaration [1.iii]

rmw_implementation does not expose a public API.

API Stability Policy [1.iv]

rmw_implementation will not break public API within a released ROS distribution, i.e. no major releases once the ROS distribution is released.

ABI Stability Policy [1.v]

rmw_implementation contains C code and therefore must be concerned with ABI stability, and will maintain ABI stability within a ROS distribution.

ABI and ABI Stability Within a Released ROS Distribution [1.vi]

rmw_implementation will not break API nor ABI within a released ROS distribution, i.e. no major releases once the ROS distribution is released.

Change Control Process [2]

rmw_implementation follows the recommended guidelines for ROS Core packages in the ROS 2 Developer Guide.

Change Requests [2.i]

This package requires that all changes occur through a pull request.

Contributor Origin [2.ii]

This package has a confirmation of contributor origin policy, which can be found in CONTRIBUTING.

Peer Review Policy [2.iii]

All pull request will be peer-reviewed, check ROS 2 Developer Guide for additional information.

Continuous Integration [2.iv]

All pull request must pass CI on all tier 1 platforms

Currently nightly results can be seen here:

Documentation Policy [2.v]

rmw_implementation does not expose a public API. There is no need to add documentation to new changes. In the case that this package adds public API features the documentation of new functionality will be required.

Documentation [3]

Feature Documentation [3.i]

rmw_implementation features are documented in the repository level README.

Public API Documentation [3.ii]

rmw_implementation does not expose a public API.

License [3.iii]

The license for rmw_implementation is Apache 2.0, and a summary is in each source file, the type is declared in the package.xml manifest file, and a full copy of the license is in the LICENSE file.

There is an automated test which runs a linter (ament_copyright) that ensures each file has a license statement.

Testing [4]

Feature Testing [4.i]

rmw_implementation features enable ROS middleware configuration and dynamic loading. Unit tests for these features are located in the test directory. Most recent test results can be found here.

Integration and system tests against available rmw implementations up the stack, such as those found in test_rclcpp and test_communication packages, further extend coverage.

Public API Testing [4.ii]

rmw_implementation does not expose a public API.

Coverage [4.iii]

rmw_implementation follows the recommendations for ROS Core packages in the ROS 2 Developer Guide, and opts to use line coverage instead of branch coverage.

This includes:

  • tracking and reporting line coverage statistics

  • achieving and maintaining a reasonable branch line coverage (90-100%)

  • no lines are manually skipped in coverage calculations

Changes are required to make a best effort to keep or increase coverage before being accepted, but decreases are allowed if properly justified and accepted by reviewers.

Current coverage statistics can be viewed here. A description of how coverage statistics are summarized from this page, can be found in the ROS 2 Onboarding Guide.

Performance [4.iv]

The performance tests of rmw_implementation are located in the test/benchmark directory. The most recent test results can be found here.

Linters and Static Analysis [4.v]

rmw_implementation uses and passes all the standard linters and static analysis tools for a C++ package as described in the ROS 2 Developer Guide.

Currently nightly results can be seen here:

Dependencies [5]

Direct Runtime ROS Dependencies [5.i/5.ii]

rmw_implementation has run-time and build-time dependencies that are at Quality Level 1

Direct Runtime non-ROS Dependency [5.iii]

rmw_implementation does not have any runtime non-ROS dependencies.

It has one “buildtool” dependency, which do not affect the resulting quality of the package, because they do not contribute to the public library API. It also has several test dependencies, which do not affect the resulting quality of the package, because they are only used to build and run the test code.

Platform Support [6]

rmw_implementation supports all of the tier 1 platforms as described in REP-2000, and tests each change against all of them.

Currently nightly results can be seen here:

Security [7]

Vulnerability Disclosure Policy [7.i]

This package conforms to the Vulnerability Disclosure Policy in REP-2006.

Current status Summary

The chart below compares the requirements in the REP-2004 with the current state of the rmw_implementation package.

Number

Requirement

Current state

1

Version policy

—

1.i

Version Policy available

✓

1.ii

Stable version

✓

1.iii

Declared public API

Not required

1.iv

API stability policy

✓

1.v

ABI stability policy

✓

1.vi_

API/ABI stable within ros distribution

✓

2

Change control process

—

2.i

All changes occur on change request

✓

2.ii

Contributor origin (DCO, CLA, etc)

✓

2.iii

Peer review policy

✓

2.iv

CI policy for change requests

✓

2.v

Documentation policy for change requests

✓

3

Documentation

—

3.i

Per feature documentation

✓

3.ii

Per public API item documentation

Not required

3.iii

Declared License(s)

✓

3.iv

Copyright in source files

✓

3.v.a

Quality declaration linked to README

✓

3.v.b

Centralized declaration available for peer review

✓

4

Testing

—

4.i

Feature items tests

✓

4.ii

Public API tests

None

4.iii.a

Using coverage

✓

4.iii.a

Coverage policy

✓

4.iv.a

Performance tests (if applicable)

✓

4.iv.b

Performance tests policy

None

4.v.a

Code style enforcement (linters)

✓

4.v.b

Use of static analysis tools

None

5

Dependencies

—

5.i

Must not have ROS lower level dependencies

✓

5.ii

Optional ROS lower level dependencies

✓

5.iii

Justifies quality use of non-ROS dependencies

✓

6

Platform support

—

6.i

Support targets Tier1 ROS platforms

✓

7

Security

—

7.i

Vulnerability Disclosure Policy

✓