Proposal: Drop core/* entries (except autoware_core) from build_depends_*.repos for Autoware Universe

[mitsudome-r]

Proposal

Drop core/* entries (except autoware_core) from build_depends_*.repos and rely on the prebuilt underlay workspace in the CI Docker image

Summary

Today, /build_depends_stable.repos and build_depends_nightly.repos list every core/* repository that autoware_universe depends on. The build-and-test-* workflows then vcs import those repos and rebuild them from source on every CI run.

However, the container image those workflows run inside — ghcr.io/autowarefoundation/autoware:universe-dependencies-cuda-{humble,jazzy} — already contains a fully-built underlay of every core/* package at /opt/autoware (see core.Dockerfile and universe.Dockerfile). We are doing the same work twice.

This proposal is to remove all core/* entries from build_depends_stable.repos and build_depends_nightly.repos except core/autoware_core, and let CI pick up those packages from the image's underlay instead and make sure that Autoware Universe build is tested against version pinned packages.

Motivation

1. The work is duplicated today

core.Dockerfile builds every package under src/core/* into /opt/autoware in the core-dependencies stage, then layers autoware_core (and autoware_rviz_plugins) on top in the core-devel stage:.

universe.Dockerfile inherits from core-devel, so the universe-dependencies* images that CI runs in already source /opt/autoware/setup.sh with the full core stack present.

Meanwhile, build-and-test-reusable.yaml clones autoware_msgs, autoware_adapi_msgs, autoware_internal_msgs, autoware_cmake, autoware_utils, autoware_lanelet2_extension, autoware_system_designer into the workspace and rebuilds them — even though identical (or nightly-equivalent) installs already exist in the image.

2. Concrete benefits

• Faster CI. Skips vcs import, rosdep resolution, and a fresh colcon build for ~7 core repositories per workflow run, on every PR.
• Smaller workspace, less disk/cache pressure. Fewer source trees in the workspace shrinks ccache footprint and colcon graph traversal time.
• Single source of truth for core versions. The image tag pins what version of core universe is tested against. Today, the image and build_depends_stable.repos can drift (e.g. the image is built off one tag while the .repos file lists another), and CI silently uses whichever wins the ordering — masking real integration issues.
• Reflects how downstream users actually consume Autoware. Users on the prebuilt universe image don't re-import core; making CI behave the same way means we test the shipped artifact, not a synthetic mix.

3. Why keep core/autoware_core

autoware_core is the package most actively co-developed with autoware_universe and is the most common reason a universe PR needs to test against an unreleased core change. Keeping just this one entry preserves:

• The nightly.repos flow that pins autoware_core to main for the nightly build.
• The existing bump-repo-versions-build-depends.yaml pathway that bumps autoware_core ahead of an Autoware Core release.
• The escape hatch for short-lived branches that need an unreleased autoware_core (overlaying main vs. baked-in stable).

Other core repos (autoware_msgs, autoware_utils, autoware_cmake, etc.) change much less often and are already version-locked via the image build.

Proposed change

Files affected

/build_depends_stable.repos — remove:

• core/autoware_core
• core/autoware_msgs
• core/autoware_adapi_msgs
• core/autoware_internal_msgs
• core/autoware_cmake
• core/autoware_utils
• core/autoware_lanelet2_extension
• core/autoware_system_designer

Keep the entire universe/external/* blocks.

/build_depends_nightly.repos — remove:

• core/autoware_utils
• core/autoware_cmake
• core/autoware_adapi_msgs
• core/autoware_internal_msgs
• core/autoware_system_designer

Keep core/autoware_core (pinned to main).

Workflows affected

No workflow logic needs to change — build-and-test.yaml, build-and-test-daily.yaml, build-and-test-differential.yaml, clang-tidy-*, cppcheck.yaml, and generate-build-cache.yaml all just consume the combined build_depends.repos. They will continue to work, just with fewer entries to import.

check-build-depends.yaml and bump-repo-versions-build-depends.yaml will need to be checked: the bump workflow currently iterates over the core/* entries; after this change it would only bump autoware_core, which matches the intent.

Image-version contract

We need to make explicit that the universe-dependencies-* image tag now defines the version of every core dependency except autoware_core. Concretely:

1. Whenever a core repository is released, the image must be rebuilt and republished before universe consumes it.
2. The docker-build-and-push.yaml pipeline already does this on every Autoware monorepo update; we just need to document the dependency direction.
3. For local development, contributors who want to test universe against an unreleased non-autoware_core core change can either (a) build the image locally with their patched core checkout, or (b) re-add the relevant entry to a personal build_depends.repos overlay.

Risks

Risk: Version drift between image and what universe expects. If universe code starts depending on a newer autoware_msgs API, the only way to fix CI is to rebuild the image. Today, you can also fix it by bumping the version in build_depends_stable.repos. → Mitigation: this is a feature, not a bug — it forces the image to stay in sync with a single declared version.

Rollout plan

1. Make a change to build_depends_stable.repos and build_depends_nightly.repos removing the listed entries.
2. Confirm green on build-and-test.yaml, build-and-test-daily.yaml, and at least one differential PR run.
3. Update check-build-depends.yaml / bump-repo-versions-build-depends.yaml as needed so they only target autoware_core.
4. Document the new contract in autoware_universe/CONTRIBUTING.md (or wherever the build/CI flow is described): "Core dependency versions are defined by the universe-dependencies-* image tag; only autoware_core is overlaid via build_depends_*.repos."

Alternatives considered

• Status quo. Keep duplicating; CI stays slower and version drift remains possible.
• Drop autoware_core too. Possible long-term, but loses the easy "test universe against core main" path that the nightly job depends on.
• Replace build_depends_*.repos entirely with image-only deps. We would have to create nightly docker images if we are going to do this.

Request for comment

If you have any feedback/comment regarding the proposal, please let me know.

[mitsudome-r]

Related issue: autowarefoundation/autoware_universe#12535

[mitsudome-r]

Note:
If we are going to remove the repositories from build_depends_*.repos, we should also remove them from autoware_nightly.repos in the autoware repository