autoware_agnocast_wrapper

The purpose of this package is to integrate Agnocast, a zero-copy middleware, into each topic in Autoware with minimal side effects. Agnocast is a library designed to work alongside ROS 2, enabling true zero-copy publish/subscribe communication for all ROS 2 message types, including unsized message types.

• Agnocast Repository: https://github.com/tier4/agnocast
• Discussion on Agnocast Integration into Autoware: https://github.com/orgs/autowarefoundation/discussions/5835

This package provides macros that wrap functions for publish/subscribe operations and smart pointer types for handling ROS 2 messages. When Autoware is built using the default build command, Agnocast is not enabled. However, setting the environment variable ENABLE_AGNOCAST=1 enables Agnocast and results in a build that includes its integration. This design ensures backward compatibility for users who are unaware of Agnocast, minimizing disruption.

How to Use the Macros in This Package

You can immediately understand how to use the macros just by looking at autoware_agnocast_wrapper.hpp. A typical callback and publisher setup looks like this:

#include <autoware/agnocast_wrapper/autoware_agnocast_wrapper.hpp>

pub_output_ = AUTOWARE_CREATE_PUBLISHER3(
  PointCloud2,
  "output",
  rclcpp::SensorDataQoS().keep_last(max_queue_size_),
  pub_options
);

void onPointCloud(const AUTOWARE_MESSAGE_PTR(const PointCloud2) input_msg) {
  auto output = ALLOCATE_OUTPUT_MESSAGE(pub_output_);
  ...
  pub_output_->publish(std::move(output));
}

To use the macros provided by this package in your own package, include the following lines in your CMakeLists.txt:

find_package(autoware_agnocast_wrapper REQUIRED)
ament_target_dependencies(target autoware_agnocast_wrapper)
target_include_directories(target ${autoware_agnocast_wrapper_INCLUDE_DIRS})
autoware_agnocast_wrapper_setup(target)

How to Enable/Disable Agnocast on Build

To build Autoware with Agnocast:

export ENABLE_AGNOCAST=1
colcon build --symlink-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

To build Autoware without Agnocast (default behavior):

colcon build --symlink-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

To explicitly disable Agnocast when it has been previously enabled:

unset ENABLE_AGNOCAST
# or
export ENABLE_AGNOCAST=0

To rebuild a specific package without Agnocast after it was previously built with Agnocast:

rm -Rf ./install/<package_name> ./build/<package_name>
export ENABLE_AGNOCAST=0
colcon build --symlink-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --package-select <package_name>

To rebuild a specific package with Agnocast after it was previously built without it:

rm -Rf ./install/<package_name> ./build/<package_name>
export ENABLE_AGNOCAST=1
colcon build --symlink-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release --package-select <package_name>

Please note that the ENABLE_AGNOCAST environment variable may not behave as expected in the following scenario:

• Package A depends on build artifacts from Package B
• Both A and B were previously built with Agnocast enabled
• Rebuilding only Package A with ENABLE_AGNOCAST=0 will not be sufficient, as compile options enabling Agnocast may propagate from Package B

Example:

• A = autoware_occupancy_grid_map_outlier_filter
• B = autoware_pointcloud_preprocessor

In such cases, rebuild both A and B with Agnocast disabled to ensure consistency. As a best practice, we recommend keeping the value of ENABLE_AGNOCAST consistent within a workspace to avoid unintentional mismatches and simplify build management.