URML (substrate-neutral robot intent language) — RFC requesting feedback on Zenoh substrate-emerging RMW manifest mapping

[idoco2003]

Hi Eclipse Zenoh team,

URML (urml.dev) is a small, opinionated, human-readable language for describing robot intent — Apache-2.0, substrate-neutral by design. URML's primary substrate is ROS 2 with DDS RMW; Zenoh is the substrate-emerging next-generation pub-sub overlay with rmw_zenoh under active development. URML's manifest could declare Zenoh as the substrate-emerging RMW choice for WAN-spanning + large-fleet scenarios where DDS discovery becomes a bottleneck.

This is a proposal-only RFC, posted as part of URML's Move #16 substrate-spine wave (16 engageable RFCs). Zenoh joins Cyclone DDS (RFC-0204) and iceoryx (RFC-0210) as the second of three Eclipse Foundation engagements in Move-16.

Full RFC: https://github.com/URML-MARS/URML/blob/main/docs/rfcs/0209-zenoh-outreach.md

URML's manifest will declare substrate.rmw_implementation: rmw_zenoh_cpp plus a first-class substrate.maturity_tier: emerging field, Zenoh topology mode, and multi-protocol-bridge declaration (MQTT / Kafka / WebSocket).

Asks for the Eclipse Zenoh maintainers:

1. Substrate-maturity-tier enum. URML's first; preferred manifest value for Zenoh (emerging, experimental, production-ready)?
2. RMW-implementation enum value. rmw_zenoh_cpp (verbose) or zenoh (substrate-class-side)?
3. Zenoh-mode topology declaration. peer / client / router — manifest field shape?
4. Multi-protocol-bridge declaration. MQTT / Kafka / WebSocket bridges — should URML's manifest declare bridge-set as a list, or as separate fields per bridge?
5. Router endpoint URI list. Production router topology requires URI list; URML's preferred field shape?
6. Eclipse Foundation-level engagement. Is per-project Issue engagement the right first-contact, or should URML pursue Eclipse Foundation project-collaboration that spans Cyclone DDS + Zenoh + iceoryx?
7. Conformance listing. Would Zenoh / Eclipse Foundation consider a project link to URML's compatible-runtimes registry (RFC-0014)?
8. Anything else.

Thanks for the next-generation pub-sub that the ROS 2 community is actively evaluating.

Ido Yahalomi (URML maintainer, urml.dev, greenvh@gmail.com)

AI-assisted prose, maintainer-reviewed before posting (see VIBE.md). Human-only correspondence available on request.

[yellowhatter]

Tagging @YuanYuYuan @sashacmc