dds-rtps

Validation of interoperability of products compliant with OMG DDS-RTPS standard. This is considered one of the core DDS Specifications. See https://www.dds-foundation.org/ for an overview of DDS.

The executables found on the release tab of this repository test discovery, DDS Topic and QoS matching, and interoperability for different QoS settings. The goal is to validate that the implementations perform these functions in compliance with OMG DDS-RTPS standard and can interoperate with each other.

Table of contents

• 1. Introduction

  • 1.1. Vocabulary

• 2. Test Suite

  • 2.1. Shape Application parameters

  • 2.2. Return Code

• 3. Run Interoperability Test Manually

  • 3.1. Requirements

    • 3.1.1. Using virtual environments

      • 3.1.1.1. Create virtual environment

      • 3.1.1.2. Activate virtual environment

      • 3.1.1.3. Install requirements

  • 3.2. Options of interoperability_report

  • 3.3. Example of use interoperability_report

  • 3.4. Report

• 4. Automation with GitHub Actions

• 5. Workflow

  • 5.1. Create executable

  • 5.2. Upload executable

  • 5.3. Create a new release

    • 5.1.1. Release and tag name

    • 5.1.2. When to create a release

    • 5.1.3. Process of creating the release

  • 5.4. Report Bugs

Introduction

In order to test the interoperability between different DDS implementations, a DDS application is used. This application is shape_main. The shape_main application adds a big variety of options to modify several parameters it uses, such as the topic name, the kind of entity (publisher/subscriber), includes DDS QoSes, etc. The shape_main application is built statically with different DDS implementations and those executables are tested between them to check their interoperability with different parameter sets defined in a Test Suite. This is done by the interoperability_report.py script.

This repository contains a Test Suite test_suite.py with all different Test Cases that the interoperability_report.py performs. The user may create different Test Suites for other testing scenarios or add new Test Cases to the mentioned Test Suite.

Additionally, the interoperability_report.py generates a JUnit report after its execution showing the results of the different tests performed.

You can run the script interoperability_report.py either automatically or manually.

Vocabulary

• Test Suite: this is a Python file that contains different Test Cases.
• Test Case: this is the definition of one testing scenario. This is composed by a set of parameters that the shape_main application will use to test the interoperability between two shape_main applications.
• shape_main application: this is a static-linked DDS application that has several parameters to configure different QoS and other DDS functionality (such as the Topic Name, color filter, domain, partition, data representation, etc).
• interoperability_report.py: this is the script that runs the different Test Cases within a Test Suite and generates a report with the results.

Test Suite

This is the file that contains all the different Test Cases that GitHub Actions run. This is a Python dictionary in which each element defines a Test Case. This Test Suite may also contain different functions that the interoperability_report.py script uses to determine whether the test result is successful or not. The Python dictionary must follow this pattern:

# The Test Suite is a dictionary where each element
# is a Test Case that interoperability_report.py
# executes.
# The dictionary has the following structure:
#       'name' : [[parameter_list], [expected_return_code_list], checking_function]
# where:
#   * name: TestCase's name
#   * parameter_list: list in which each element is the parameters that
#         the shape_main application will use.
#   * expected_return_codes: list with expected ReturnCodes for
#     a succeed test execution.
#   * expected_return_code_list: list with expected ReturnCodes
#         for a succeed test execution.
#   * checking_function [OPTIONAL]: function to check how the Subscribers receive
#         the samples from the Publishers. By default, it just checks that
#         the data is received. In case that it has a different behavior, that
#         function must be implemented in the test_suite file and the test case
#         should reference it in this parameter.
#
#     The checking_function must have the following parameters:
#     child_sub: child program generated with pexpect
#     samples_sent: list of multiprocessing Queues with the samples
#                the Publishers send. Element 1 of the list is for
#                Publisher 1, etc.
#     timeout: time pexpect waits until it matches a pattern.

#   The number of elements in parameter_list defines how many shape_main
#   applications the interoperability_report will run. It should be the same as
#   the number of elements in expected_return_code_list.

# Example

rtps_test_suite_1 = {
  # one publisher with parameters [-t Square -x 2] and one subscriber with
  # [-t Square -c RED -x 2]. The publisher expected return code is OK
  # and the subscriber, DATA_NOT_RECEIVED
  'Test_Color_7' :  [['-P -t Square -x 2', '-S -t Square -c RED -x 2'],
                    [ReturnCode.OK, ReturnCode.DATA_NOT_RECEIVED]],
  # two publishers and one subscriber, all of them with expected return codes OK.
  'Test_DataRepresentation_0' : [['-P -t Square -x 1', '-P -t Square -x 1', '-S -t Square -x 1'],
                                [ReturnCode.OK, ReturnCode.OK, ReturnCode.OK]],
}

By default, the interoperability_report.py script runs the tests from test_suite.py in its same directory. The Test Suites defined must be located in the same directory as interoperability_report.py.

Shape Application parameters

The Shape application is created in the folder srcCxx/shape_main.cxx. This application allows the user to test the interoperability between different executables (built with different DDS implementations).

The Shape application allows the following parameters:

   --help, -h      : print this menu
   -P              : publish samples
   -S              : subscribe samples
   -d <int>        : domain id (default: 0)
   -b              : BEST_EFFORT reliability
   -r              : RELIABLE reliability
   -k <depth>      : keep history depth [0: KEEP_ALL]
   -f <interval>   : set a 'deadline' with interval (seconds) [0: OFF]
   -i <interval>   : apply 'time based filter' with interval (seconds) [0: OFF]
   -s <int>        : set ownership strength [-1: SHARED]
   -t <topic_name> : set the topic name
   -c <color>      : set color to publish (filter if subscriber)
   -p <partition>  : set a 'partition' string
   -D [v|l|t|p]    : set durability [v: VOLATILE,  l: TRANSIENT_LOCAL]
                                     t: TRANSIENT, p: PERSISTENT]
   -x [1|2]        : set data representation [1: XCDR, 2: XCDR2]
   -w              : print Publisher's samples
   -z <int>        : set shapesize (0: increase the size for every sample)
   -R              : use 'read()' instead of 'take()'
   --write-period <ms>: waiting period between 'write()' operations in ms.
                        Default: 33ms
   --read-period <ms> : waiting period between 'read()' or 'take()' operations
                        in ms. Default: 100ms
   -v [e|d]        : set log message verbosity [e: ERROR, d: DEBUG]

Return Code

The shape_main application always follows a specific sequence of steps:

• Publisher shape_main application

  • Create Topic
  • Create DataWriter
  • DataWriter matches DataReader
  • DataWriter sends samples

• Subscriber shape_main application

  • Create Topic
  • Create DataReader
  • DataReader matches DataWriter
  • DataWriter is detected as alive
  • DataReader receives samples

At each step, the shape_main application prints a specific string which allows the interoperability_report script to know how was the execution of the application. In order to keep track of the shape_main application execution, there are some Return Codes, each of them related to one publisher/subscriber step. They are set depending on the stdout strings. These printed strings and the corresponding Return Codes follows this workflow (at the left side, the stdout string; at the right side, the Return Code):

Publisher:

• 'Create topic' not found -> TOPIC_NOT_CREATED
• 'Create topic':
  • 'Create writer for topic' not found -> WRITER_NOT_CREATED
  • 'Create writer for topic':
    • 'on_offered_incompatible_qos()' -> INCOMPATIBLE_QOS
    • No string matched -> READER_NOT_MATCHED
    • 'on_publication_matched()':
      • case '-w' not in parameters -> OK
      • case '-w' in parameters:
        • '[[0-9]+]'-> OK
        • 'on_offered_deadline_missed' -> DEADLINE_MISSED
        • No string matched -> DATA_NOT_SENT

Subscriber:

• 'Create topic' not found -> TOPIC_NOT_CREATED
• 'Create topic':
  • 'failed to create content filtered topic'-> FILTER_NOT_CREATED
  • No string matched -> READER_NOT_CREATED
  • 'Create reader for topic':
    • 'on_requested_incompatible_qos()'-> INCOMPATIBLE_QOS
    • 'on_requested_deadline_missed' -> DEADLINE_MISSED
    • '[[0-9]+]':
      • checking_function not defined in Test Case -> OK
      • checking_function defined in Test Case -> OK, DATA_NOT_CORRECT, RECEIVING_FROM_ONE or RECEIVING_FROM_BOTH, depending on the function.
    • No string matched -> DATA_NOT_RECEIVED

Note: '[[0-9]+]' is the shapesize of the samples. The interoperability_report script is only taking into account the shapesize in order to match a printed shape sample. This does not prevent the script to recover the other information: x, y and color.

The codes DATA_NOT_CORRECT, RECEIVING_FROM_ONE and RECEIVING_FROM_BOTH are only used in specific checking_function. These functions check specific behavior of a test. For example, Reliability and Ownership work correctly, etc.

Example of the Return Code that a Test Case should use in a specific scenario. In this case, the Publisher and Subscriber will not have communication because the Subscriber creates a content filtered topic for color Blue and the Publisher sends Red samples. Therefore the Publisher is created correctly (Return Code OK) and the Subscriber matches the Publisher but does not read any data (Return Code DATA_NOT_RECEIVED):

• Publisher parameters: Square Color Red
• Subscriber parameters: Square Color Blue (content filtered topic)
• Publisher expected return code: OK
• Subscriber expected return code: DATA_NOT_RECEIVED

NOTE: interoperability_report is based on the string patterns from the shape_main application. In order to keep it working right, please do not modify the shape_main application strings.

Run Interoperability Test Manually

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• Create and enable a virtual environment (installing requirements)

Using virtual environments

The build will be done using virtual environments, you should create and activate the virtual environment and then install all dependencies. This can be done by following these steps:

Create virtual environment

In Linux® systems, you may need to install the corresponding python venv package:

sudo apt install python3.8-venv

To create the virtual environment:

python3 -m venv .venv

Activate virtual environment

source .venv/bin/activate

Install requirements

This step is only required the first time or when the requirements change:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Options of interoperability_report

The interoperability_report.py may configure the following options:

$ python3 interoperability_report.py -h

usage: interoperability_report.py [-h] -P publisher_executable_name -S subscriber_executable_name
                                  [-v] [-s test_suite_dictionary_file]
                                  [-t test_cases [test_cases ...] | -d
                                  test_cases_disabled
                                  [test_cases_disabled ...]] [-o filename]

Validation of interoperability of products compliant with OMG DDS-RTPS
standard. This script generates automatically the verification between two
shape_main executables. It also generates an XML report in JUnit format.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit

general options:
  -P publisher_executable_name, --publisher publisher_executable_name
                        Path to the Publisher shape_main application. It may
                        be absolute or relative path. Example: if the
                        executable is in the same folder as the script: "-P
                        ./rti_connext_dds-6.1.1_shape_main_linux".
  -S subscriber_executable_name, --subscriber subscriber_executable_name
                        Path to the Subscriber shape_main application. It may
                        be absolute or relative path. Example: if the
                        executable is in the same folder as the script: "-S
                        ./rti_connext_dds-6.1.1_shape_main_linux".

optional parameters:
  -v, --verbose         Print debug information to stdout. This option also
                        shows the shape_main application output in case of
                        error. If this option is not used, only the test
                        results are printed in the stdout. (Default: False).

Test Case and Test Suite:
  -s test_suite_dictionary_file, --suite test_suite_dictionary_file
                        Test Suite that is going to be tested. Test Suite is a
                        file with a Python dictionary defined. It must be
                        located on the same directory as
                        interoperability_report. This value should not contain
                        the extension ".py", only the name of the file. It
                        will run all the dictionaries defined in the file.
                        (Default: test_suite).
  -t test_cases [test_cases ...], --test test_cases [test_cases ...]
                        Test Case that the script will run. This option is not
                        supported with --disable-test. This allows to set
                        multiple values separated by a space. (Default: run
                        all Test Cases from the Test Suite.)
  -d test_cases_disabled [test_cases_disabled ...], --disable-test test_cases_disabled [test_cases_disabled ...]
                        Test Case that the script will skip. This allows to
                        set multiple values separated by a space. This option
                        is not supported with --test. (Default: None)

output options:
  -o filename, --output-name filename
                        Name of the xml report that will be generated. If the
                        file passed already exists, it will add the new
                        results to it. In other case it will create a new
                        file. (Default:
                        <publisher_name>-<subscriber_name>-date.xml)

Example of use interoperability_report

This is an example that runs the interoperability_report.py with the test suite test_suite.py

$ python3 interoperability_report.py -P <path_to_publisher_executable>
-S <path_to_subscriber_executable>

Report

The script generates a report file in JUnit (xml).

Note: to visualize the report in a more friendly way you can use junit-viewer:
junit-viewer --results=<xml_name> --save=<html_name>

The report file contains the following items:

• Test Suites
  • The headers inside the report.
  • They have some items:
    • Name: <publisher>--<subscriber>
    • Time: time spent in the execution of all the Test Cases inside the Test Suite.
    • Total error tests ❌ : number of Test Cases with errors in the Test Suite.
    • Total success tests ✔️ : number of successful Test Cases in the Test Suite.
    • A set of Test Cases.
• Test Cases
  • Test that we are testing.
  • They are green ✔️ (success) or red ❌ (failure).
  • They have some items:
    • Name
    • Time: time spent in the execution of the Test Case.
    • Parameters Publisher/Subscriber
    • In case of error:
      • Expected code and code produced
      • Console output from the shape application publisher and subscriber.

Automation with GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions allows to automate the testing phase by calling interoperability_report.py and generating the report. Although this process has to be launched manually by the user. GitHub Actions take care of unzipping the different executables that are part of the latest release and run all the combinations of the executables. For example, if we have 3 executables (A, B and C) the following tests are performed, the left-side executable is a publisher application and the right-side executable a subscriber application:

• A-A
• A-B
• A-C
• B-A
• B-B
• B-C
• C-A
• C-B
• C-C

The GitHub Actions process must be launched in the following cases:

• Whenever a new executable is uploaded
• When interoperability_report.py changes
• When test_suite.py changes

To generate the report you should follow the next steps:

1. Go to Actions.

2. Go to Testing Interoperability.

3. Press Run workflow, select master branch (for the official tests).

4. Wait a few minutes until the new task is finished and then press it.
   Example of a successful and a failed test:

5. At the bottom of the page you can find the attached artifacts in the Artifacts section that contains the generated report.

6. Download and unzip it. There is file called index.html, inside report.zip that is the generated report. It will look something like this (set pretty option):

Note: The status of the GitHub Action will be Failure ❌, if any of the Test Cases that we are testing has an error, or Success ✔️ if none of them reported any error.

Workflow

This section explains which are the events you may find in the process of maintaining the repository.

Create executable

New executables should be created and uploaded to the corresponding release when:

• A new release of the product (DDS implementation)
• When shape_main.cxx changes. In this case, there will be a new release version in GitHub. New executables must be created with these changes.

The steps to compile with shape_main.cxx are not defined but there are some makefiles to help you with the task in the srcCxx folder.

For example, if you want to build shape_main.cxx with RTI Connext, you can use makefile_rti_connext_dds_linux.

Upload executable

Each vendor should compile shape_main.cxx with their own product using the GLIBC version 2.31 or older (eg Ubuntu 2004). This helps to run the executables in older OSes. The executable created must follow the following pattern: <product_name_and_version>_shape_main_linux and compress it into a .zip file.

Example:

Then, the executable should be uploaded to the corresponding release:

Note: to do it with the command line see gh release

1. In the main page, go to Releases.

2. Inside the latest release, go to Edit.

3. Upload the executables in Attach binaries by dropping them here or selecting them (leave all the other fields as they were). Keep marked Set as the latest release, and press Update release.

Note: once the executable is uploaded, the user should run GitHub Actions to generate a new report. See Automation with GitHub Actions for further information.

Create a new release

Release and tag name

The name of the release and the tag associated with it will be the same. It should follow the next rule:
vx.y.z

• x: major version
• y: minor version
• z: year

Whenever there are changes that affect functionality, the major or minor versions should be updated:

• New functionality, major change -> major version
• Bug fix or new functionality, minor change -> minor version

Example: actual name -> v1.0.2022

• If there is a small change in the repository: v1.1.2022
• If there is a big change in the repository: v2.0.2022
• At the beginning of a new year: v1.0.2023
  • If last release was v1.2.2022, it would be v1.2.2023

When to create a release

There are two cases when we will create a new release:

• Once a year A new release is created every year, updating the latest version of all executables. This increases the year in the release name and tag.
  • Before creating the release, it's required to:
    • Generate a report (see Automation with GitHub Actions).
    • Upload the report generated as an asset to the current release (see Upload executable and follow the same steps but with the report file).
• When there is a new functionality in shape_main.cxx, interoperability_report.py, or the creation of any other file that could be considered as a new functionality. This increases the major or minor version in the release name/tag but no the year.

Every time we create a new release we need to select which executables we want to maintain in the new release. This new release should contain the last version uploaded for every vendor. The executables could also be uploaded (or removed) later.

Process of creating the release

The automatic test only work with the latest release, so it is important to keep it up-to-date. Also, the release cannot be set as a pre-release. Here it is explained how to create the release with the graphic interface.

Note: to do it with the command line see gh release. You also need to create the tag first. In order to do it:

git checkout master
git tag <tag_name>

The name of the release and the tag should be as explained in Release and tag name.

1. In the main page, go to Releases.

2. Go to Draft a new release.

3. Do:
   • In Choose a tag write the name of the tag and select Create a new tag.
   • Write the release name on Release title.
   • In Describe this release write: 'Creating release <name_release>'.
   • Attach the executables in Attach binaries by dropping them here or selecting them (you can perform this step later: see Upload executable).
   • Mark Set as the latest release.
   • Make sure Set as pre-release is not selected.
   • Press Publish release.

Report Bugs

In case of failure in any of the Test Cases, the vendors involved should check first that the problem found is not generated by their executables. If the cause of the problem is not known or it is believed to be generated by other executables, they should report the problem as an issue in the following way.

• Go to Issues.

• Check the issue is not already submitted.
• Select New Issue.

• Select Interoperability issue template, Get Started.

• Fill out the corresponding information:

  • Title: Problem with <QoS or parameter>

  • Fill the fields (publisher and subscriber name, Test Suite, Test Case, expected codes and produced codes).

  • Copy the link to the GitHub Action workflow run.

    • Example, from this page:

    

  • Add any suggestion about how to fix it, or why this is happening [Optional].

  • Add another comment [Optional].

  • In the section Labels, assign them to the vendors involved.

  

  • Press Submit new issue.