shared_buffer_backend

shared_buffer_backend is a rosidl::Buffer backend that shares memory between compatible ROS 2 endpoints on Linux and Windows. Linux uses anonymous memfd allocations; Windows uses session-local named file mappings.

See the user guide for an illustrated overview, setup steps, and C++ / Python examples. The guide is a standalone site ready to be served with GitHub Pages directly from the docs/ directory.

Attribution

This repository is developed and maintained outside the Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF). Its implementation was developed with reference to the OSRF rosidl_buffer_backends implementation.

Packages

• shared_buffer: shared-memory allocation, pooling, handles, Linux FD brokering, and Windows named-mapping import.
• shared_buffer_backend_py: Python zero-copy bindings for the shared-memory backend (installs the shared_buffer Python module).
• shared_buffer_backend: rosidl buffer backend plugin.
• shared_buffer_backend_msgs: descriptor message used for inter-process import.

Python zero-copy access

The shared_buffer_backend_py package exposes Python buffer-protocol access through the shared_buffer Python module. NumPy is optional and consumes the standard memoryview without copying:

import numpy as np
from shared_buffer import allocate_buffer, read_buffer, write_buffer

buffer = allocate_buffer(1024)
with write_buffer(buffer) as view:
    array = np.frombuffer(view, dtype=np.uint8)
    array[:] = 7
    del array  # Derived views must be released before leaving the scope.

message.data = buffer

view = read_buffer(received_message.data)
array = np.frombuffer(view, dtype=np.uint8)
process(array)

Read views are read-only. Their read lease is retained by derived buffer objects and released automatically when the last view is destroyed. Write views are exclusive and are finalized when the scope closes; a derived write view must not escape the scope, and closing raises BufferError while one remains alive.

Benchmark

The benchmark package, benchmark results, report, and figures are maintained in the separate shared_buffer_backend_benchmark repository.