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Open Issues

  • Issues not resolved
  • Name: almas-rtf
  • Issues Count: 34

Issues Summary

Key Issue Reported Fixed Disposition Status
ALMAS13-24 Ambiguity of TypeOfByteData attribute ALMAS 1.1b1 open
ALMAS13-27 Ambiguity between ALMAS Client Callback Interfaces ALMAS 1.1b1 open
ALMAS13-29 MIssing Acronyms and Abbreviations ALMAS 1.1b1 open
ALMAS13-28 Confusion between ALMAS Configuration and ALMAS Categorization ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-18 Clarity on use of AlertID ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-22 The Dynamic Behaviour section isn't well referenced inside the specification ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-19 The role of ALMAS Manager is unclear ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-20 Standardisation of Logging ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-23 CallStatus Reason should be an enumeration not an int ALMAS 1.1b1 open
ALMAS13-15 Meaning of Categorization Rules not clear when referenced ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-26 Implications on safety criticality ALMAS 1.1b1 open
ALMAS13-25 Poor description of TimeoutAction attribute ALMAS 1.1b1 open
ALMAS13-43 Unable to override extra attributes in alert template when raising an alert ALMAS 1.2b1 open
ALMAS13-17 Summary Description for RemoveAlertsWithDynamicMessageData is too specific ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-14 Multi-language support mechanism is poorly described ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-16 Inconsistent optionality marking ALMAS 1.1b1 open
ALMAS13-21 Operation tables for interfaces aren't easy to read ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-9 Ambiguity in Routing Error Condition ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-13 No multi-language support for dynamic message data ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-11 Behaviour of SetLanguage operation is unclear ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-10 GetFilledMessageText doesn't account for different languages ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-12 Error condition on SetLanguage ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-5 Receiver Hierarchy Error Conditions ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-8 Semantics of undefined receivers ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-7 LoadTemplateSet error conditions ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-6 No mechanism to feedback alternative action choice ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-1 Ambiguity regarding raising alerts after calling SetAlertInhibited ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-3 Coordination of unique request IDs ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-2 Register and Unregister Receiver are unnecessary in the DDS PSM ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS13-4 No standard DDS key specification ALMAS 1.1 open
ALMAS11-49 Inconsistent use of underscores in XSD (templates) ALMAS 1.0 open
ALMAS11-50 Inconsistencies between XSD enums and text ALMAS 1.0 open
ALMAS11-51 form throws away submissions on errors ALMAS 1.0 open
ALMAS11-52 Inconsistencies between enum values in tables and XSD (alert templates) ALMAS 1.0 open

Issues Descriptions

Ambiguity of TypeOfByteData attribute

  • Key: ALMAS13-24
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    For attribute TypeOfByteData in Class AlertDataExtraAttributes
    Unclear whether or not strings should be null terminated.
    Unclear whether only one or multiple int, float values etc. are valid for one instance of the class
    Unclear whether the size of the value attribute not matching or being a multiple of the type from the TypeOfByteData attribute is an error condition

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1b1 — Sat, 5 Feb 2022 13:36 GMT
  • Updated: Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:24 GMT

Ambiguity between ALMAS Client Callback Interfaces

  • Key: ALMAS13-27
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    It is not clear whether there are semantic differences between the events that trigger the ALMAS Client Callbacks ALMASNotificationListener and ALMASReceiver. The method summaries suggest that ALMASNotificationListener relates to safety critical alerts, but elsewhere in the spec this is only an example usage.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1b1 — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 11:49 GMT
  • Updated: Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:24 GMT

MIssing Acronyms and Abbreviations

  • Key: ALMAS13-29
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The Acronyms and Abbreviations section is missing entries - e.g. for PSM technologies such as DDS.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1b1 — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 09:59 GMT
  • Updated: Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:24 GMT

Confusion between ALMAS Configuration and ALMAS Categorization

  • Key: ALMAS13-28
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    In describing the PIM structure, four packages are described plus an optional one (ALMAS Categorization). However in the detail one of the packages (ALMAS Configuration) is actually a class within the ALMAS Management package.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 11:37 GMT
  • Updated: Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:24 GMT

Clarity on use of AlertID

  • Key: ALMAS13-18
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The description of GetAlert would be improved by describing how the ID for an Alert is known

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Sat, 5 Feb 2022 16:14 GMT
  • Updated: Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:24 GMT

The Dynamic Behaviour section isn't well referenced inside the specification

  • Key: ALMAS13-22
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    Section 6.5 on Dynamic Behaviour would aid the understanding of the other parts of section 6, but it's existence isn't well sign-posted within the section. The roles of the interfaces declared aren't very clear with the sequence diagrams in particular needed to show where all the parts fit in.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Sat, 5 Feb 2022 15:58 GMT
  • Updated: Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:24 GMT

The role of ALMAS Manager is unclear

  • Key: ALMAS13-19
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The description of ALMAS Manager does not give a clear picture of where it fits into the ALMAS system.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Sat, 5 Feb 2022 16:12 GMT
  • Updated: Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:24 GMT

Standardisation of Logging

  • Key: ALMAS13-20
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The specification does not standardise the logging mechanism. This could be achieved by PSM specific means.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Sat, 5 Feb 2022 16:10 GMT
  • Updated: Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:24 GMT

CallStatus Reason should be an enumeration not an int

  • Key: ALMAS13-23
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The semantics of the reason attribute of the CallStatus call should be encapsulated as an enumeration. Also the formatting of the description of the attribute doesn't help clarity.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1b1 — Sat, 5 Feb 2022 15:22 GMT
  • Updated: Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:24 GMT

Meaning of Categorization Rules not clear when referenced

  • Key: ALMAS13-15
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The summaries for operations AttachCategorisationRule and DetachCategorisationRule refer to Categorization Rules. Whilst there is some description in section 6.4 there is no overview of purpose prior to this point or forward sign-posting to section 6.4, so the purpose of these methods is left somewhat opaque.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Mon, 7 Feb 2022 11:33 GMT
  • Updated: Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:24 GMT

Implications on safety criticality

  • Key: ALMAS13-26
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The specification appears to imply functionality that should be applied in the case of safety critical systems - ConfirmationRequired attribute of AlertData. This is in appropriate - the spec should do no more than offer this as an example use case for potential mitigation.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1b1 — Sat, 5 Feb 2022 13:26 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

Poor description of TimeoutAction attribute

  • Key: ALMAS13-25
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The description of TimeoutAction attribute of Class AlertData describes its enumeration type rather than the attribute itself

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1b1 — Sat, 5 Feb 2022 13:28 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

Unable to override extra attributes in alert template when raising an alert

  • Key: ALMAS13-43
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The extra attribute mechanism is a useful extension mechanism for providing additional information and/or functionality relating to an alert. However, in the current specification there isn't a way to do this using predefined alert templates with runtime parameters.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.2b1 — Tue, 7 Feb 2023 17:22 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

Summary Description for RemoveAlertsWithDynamicMessageData is too specific

  • Key: ALMAS13-17
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The Summary Description for RemoveAlertsWithDynamicMessageData refers to a real world object being removed. This is just one reason for using this method; others exist. In general this is a method to remove all alerts that refer to a specific value.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Mon, 7 Feb 2022 11:22 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

Multi-language support mechanism is poorly described

  • Key: ALMAS13-14
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The features of the alert data model supporting multiple languages are not brought out well in the description. The description of static messages should discuss that there is intended to be one static message instance for each supported language variant

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Mon, 7 Feb 2022 11:59 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

Inconsistent optionality marking

  • Key: ALMAS13-16
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The summary for RemoveAlertsWithDynamicMessageData concludes with stating that implementation is optional. This is true for all methods in this interface - but is stated for only this one.
    Also there is a rogue full-stop (period) in the text.
    The ALMAS responder extensions do not have equivalent text either.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1b1 — Mon, 7 Feb 2022 11:26 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

Operation tables for interfaces aren't easy to read

  • Key: ALMAS13-21
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The formatting of tables for operations for interface classes doesn't aid readability

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Sat, 5 Feb 2022 16:04 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

Ambiguity in Routing Error Condition

  • Key: ALMAS13-9
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    It is unclear whether it is an error for an Alert Template to be RaiseToAll and to have receivers and/or secondary grouping specified.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Mon, 7 Feb 2022 17:15 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

No multi-language support for dynamic message data

  • Key: ALMAS13-13
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The data model doesn't support multiple languages for the dynamic message data - but this is not made clear in the descriptive text.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Mon, 7 Feb 2022 12:01 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

Behaviour of SetLanguage operation is unclear

  • Key: ALMAS13-11
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    Operation SetLanguage is described as setting the language for a specific receiver. However the data model has the text for all languages (potentially) delivered to all receivers. Therefore it is unclear what the SetLanguage operation is supposed to achieve.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Mon, 7 Feb 2022 13:58 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

GetFilledMessageText doesn't account for different languages

  • Key: ALMAS13-10
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    GetFilledMessageText doesn't have a language parameter so it's implementation is unable to determine which static message from a set to use as a basis for performing message text dynamic parameter substitution.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Mon, 7 Feb 2022 16:26 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

Error condition on SetLanguage

  • Key: ALMAS13-12
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The error condition on specifying an unsupported language for the alert is not described for the SetLanguage operation.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Mon, 7 Feb 2022 12:03 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

Receiver Hierarchy Error Conditions

  • Key: ALMAS13-5
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    Receiver Kind Type should be unique
    Parent should have it's own Receiver Kind definition
    Parent of a Receiver Kind should not introduce a circularity

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Mon, 7 Feb 2022 18:33 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT
  • Attachments:

Semantics of undefined receivers

  • Key: ALMAS13-8
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    It is unclear whether it is an error condition to refer to a receiver before it has been registered or defined in a receiver hierarchy file. E.g. in an alert template configuration file, or when raising an alert (override or from data).
    It is also unclear whether when registering a receiver it must match an entry in the hierarchy file.
    It is also unclear whether it is permissible to call the LoadReceiverHierarchy multiple times and if so what semantics are expected.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Mon, 7 Feb 2022 17:27 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

LoadTemplateSet error conditions

  • Key: ALMAS13-7
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    It is unclear whether the following are error conditions:
    Duplicate template id with previous load
    Unsupported variable type in dynamic message data
    Unsupported type of data in alert data extra attributes
    Mismatched tags between dynamic and static messages
    Missing text for mandatory languages
    Capacity limits exceeded

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Mon, 7 Feb 2022 18:06 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

No mechanism to feedback alternative action choice

  • Key: ALMAS13-6
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The spec does not appear to offer an interface for an alert client to be informed of the alternative or non-standard choice that has been made in response to an alert.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Mon, 7 Feb 2022 18:12 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

Ambiguity regarding raising alerts after calling SetAlertInhibited

  • Key: ALMAS13-1
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The description of SetAlertInhibited says "... suppress or allow the raising of all alerts of that template"
    This would suggest that calls to methods such as RaiseAlertFromTemplate for this template would subsequently fail (or succeed). An alternative interpretation is that these methods succeed but that Receivers ignore the corresponding Alert instance that is created.
    For implementation interoperability it must be clear as to which of these designs to follow.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Tue, 8 Feb 2022 17:53 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

Coordination of unique request IDs

  • Key: ALMAS13-3
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The spec assumes "... that request IDs are generated by the caller and that they are unique across all ALMAS callers."
    This assumption imposes system implementation specific behaviour on users of the ALMAS specification and reduces portability across ALMAS systems.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Tue, 8 Feb 2022 08:59 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

Register and Unregister Receiver are unnecessary in the DDS PSM

  • Key: ALMAS13-2
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    Topic types ALMAS_RegisterReceiver and ALMAS_UnregisterReceiver are not required as this functionality is covered by the statndard (DCPS) DDS Subscription Model.

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Tue, 8 Feb 2022 10:00 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

No standard DDS key specification

  • Key: ALMAS13-4
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Simon Mettrick)
  • Summary:

    The DDS-Xtypes specification now provides a standard way of specifying keys. This specification should use that mechanism

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.1 — Mon, 7 Feb 2022 18:37 GMT
  • Updated: Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:01 GMT

Inconsistent use of underscores in XSD (templates)

  • Key: ALMAS11-49
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Peter Evans)
  • Summary:

    Alert_Template
    Alert_Category
    ....
    ConfirmationRequried
    TimeoutAction

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.0 — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 15:13 GMT
  • Updated: Fri, 3 Apr 2020 19:32 GMT

Inconsistencies between XSD enums and text

  • Key: ALMAS11-50
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Peter Evans)
  • Summary:

    The enumerations in the XSD and the body are inconsistent.
    See Timeout Action and Acknowledgement Model in the XSD and table 7.2.2.1

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.0 — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 15:11 GMT
  • Updated: Fri, 3 Apr 2020 19:32 GMT

form throws away submissions on errors

  • Key: ALMAS11-51
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Peter Evans)
  • Summary:

    Pleas fix this form so it doesn't wipe data on verification errors and keep unchecking the agree box

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.0 — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 15:08 GMT
  • Updated: Fri, 3 Apr 2020 19:32 GMT

Inconsistencies between enum values in tables and XSD (alert templates)

  • Key: ALMAS11-52
  • Status: open  
  • Source: BAE SYSTEMS ( Peter Evans)
  • Summary:

    Timeout Action:
    7.2.2.1

    {cancel, notify, cancel & notify}

    XSD CancelOnly, NotifyOnly, CancelWithNotify

    AcknowledgementModel
    7.2.2.1

    {none, anyone, all}

    XSD AckByNone, AckByAnyone, AckByAll

    Also inconsistencies in the element naming in that some use underscores between words and others do not
    Alert_Template
    Alert_Category
    Secondary_Grouping
    ...
    TimeoutAction
    ReliablyDistributed
    MessageText
    ...

  • Reported: ALMAS 1.0 — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 15:05 GMT
  • Updated: Fri, 3 Apr 2020 19:32 GMT