rosidl_buffer_backends

Vendor-specific storage backends for rosidl::Buffer, enabling ROS 2 publishers and subscribers to share accelerator-accessible memory without copying when supported, with automatic fallback to the default CPU path. PyTorch conversion libraries use the same buffer infrastructure.

Packages

• cuda_buffer_backend -- CUDA buffer backend packages for zero-copy GPU memory sharing using CUDA VMM IPC, including cuda_buffer_py allocation, scoped read/write handles, and copies for Python.
• qc_buffer_backend -- Qualcomm buffer backend packages for HTP-CPU zero-copy sharing using dma-buf memory.
• libtorch_vendor -- CPU LibTorch provider.
• libtorch_cuda_vendor -- CUDA LibTorch provider.
• python3_torch_vendor -- CPU Python Torch provider.
• python3_torch_cuda_vendor -- CUDA Python Torch provider.
• tensor_msgs -- DLPack-aligned ExperimentalTensor.msg definition.
• torch_conversions -- C++ at::Tensor API and runtime plugin registry.
• torch_conversions_cpu -- C++ host-memory implementation.
• torch_conversions_cuda -- C++ CUDA implementation backed by cuda_buffer.
• torch_conversions_py -- Python torch.Tensor API and plugin registry.
• torch_conversions_py_cpu -- Python host-memory implementation.
• torch_conversions_py_cuda -- Python CUDA implementation.

Deb build status

ROS 2 Lyrical (Ubuntu Resolute)

Package	Source deb	Binary deb (amd64)	Binary deb (arm64)
cuda_buffer
cuda_buffer_backend
cuda_buffer_backend_msgs
tensor_msgs
torch_conversions

ROS 2 Rolling (Ubuntu Resolute)

Package	Source deb	Binary deb (amd64)	Binary deb (arm64)
cuda_buffer
cuda_buffer_backend
cuda_buffer_backend_msgs
tensor_msgs
torch_conversions

Prerequisites

• A ROS 2 Rolling development environment. See the upstream Building ROS 2 on Ubuntu guide for the canonical source-build flow, or use the pixi workflow shipped by the ros2/ros2 meta-repo.

• Each backend depends on its vendor-specific platform support. Refer to the backend documentation for detailed prerequisites, setup, build, test, and usage instructions:

• cuda_buffer_backend/README.md

• qc_buffer_backend/README.md

• torch_conversions/README.md

License

Apache-2.0