Hi All,
As part of the ROS 2 distro planning process the TSC plans to re-evaluate the default ROS middleware layer that ships with each ROS 2 distro. This RWM selection process will become a regular part of each subsequent ROS 2 release. The motivation for re-evaluating, and potentially changing the default RMW, is driven by and the need to deliver the best possible “out of the box” experience for ROS 2 users. The ROS 2 TSC believes that by continually re-evaluating our potential RMW choices we’ll eventually converge on the best possible user experience while simultaneously promoting a cohort of complimentary RMW implementations. It is also important to keep in mind that the default RMW is simply that, a default. ROS 2 is better when we have an ecosystem of RMW implementations that meet the wide variety of ROS applications seen in the wild.
For Galactic, and all future ROS 2 releases, the default RMW will be selected by the ROS 2 TSC after evaluating a report on the current state of the RMW ecosystem. I am currently drafting the first iteration of this report. The report will consist of three complimentary sections that evaluate different aspects of the available Tier 1 RMW implementations. The first section will focus on raw performance metrics for each RMW as evaluated by a variety of build farm tests. The second section of the report will evaluate the RMW implementations on their community support with a focus on things like overall code quality, community engagement, and ticket management. The final, and most important section, will focus on community feedback about the various RMW implementations.
This first iteration of the RMW selection process is going to be a bit fraught and we’ll need patience from the community as we are trying to balance a thorough and fair evaluation process with the need to make progress on ROS Galactic. For these reasons this iteration will rely heavily on the user feedback section. To capture this community feedback I have constructed yet another ROS community survey. This survey is designed to capture two things: the ROS community’s familiarity and experience with different ROS 2 middleware implementations and a narrative description about that experience. If you have strong opinions about any aspect of ROS 2 Middleware this is where you can get those opinions heard in a constructive manner. We’re asking all ROS 2 Foxy, Eloquent, Dashing, and Rolling users to provide feedback on their current RMW implementation.
My intent is to share the majority of the survey results along with the analysis once the full report has been reviewed and voted on by the TSC. The narrative section of the survey will remain anonymous and not be shared except as excerpts in the final TSC RMW report. We plan to run this survey for approximately the next four weeks, with the last day to respond being Friday, October 16th, 2020.
TL;DR
- Who: Users of ROS 2 Foxy, Eloquent, Dashing and Rolling.
- What: We want to know about your experience with RMW implementations.
- Why: Survey results will be evaluated by the TSC as part of the ROS Galactic default RMW selection process.
- Survey results will be shared but responses will be kept anonymous.
- Where: Survey Link
- When: Last day to respond is 2020-10-16T07:00:00Z
If you have questions about the process or the survey itself feel to drop a question in the comments.