reqif 0.0.1

Python library for ReqIF format. ReqIF parsing and unparsing.

ReqIF

ReqIF is a Python library for working ReqIF format.

The project is under construction.

Getting started

TBD

Usage

Passthrough command

TBD

HTML dump

TBD

Formatting ReqIF

TBD

Implementation details

Tolerance

The first-stage parser is made tolerant against possible issues in ReqIF. It should be possible to parse a ReqIF file even if it is missing important information. A separate validation command shall be used to confirm the validity of the ReqIF contents.

A bottom-up overview of the ReqIF format

• ReqIF is a standard. See reference document RD01.
• ReqIF has a fixed structure (see "What is common for all ReqIF documents" below)
• ReqIF standard does not define a document structure for every documents so a ReqIF tool implementor is free to choose between several implementation approaches. There is a ReqIF Implementation Guide that attempts to harmonize ReqIF tool developments. See also "What is left open by the ReqIF standard" below.
• ReqIF files produced by various tool often have incomplete schemas.

What is common for all ReqIF documents

• All documents have ReqIF tags:
  • Document metadata is stored inside tags of REQ-IF-HEADER tag.
  • Requirements are stored as <SPEC-OBJECT>s
  • Requirements types are stored as <SPEC-TYPE>s
  • Supported data types are stored as <DATATYPE>
  • Relationships such as 'Parent-Child' as stored as <SPEC-RELATIONS>

What is left open by the ReqIF standard

• How to distinguish requirements from headers/sections?
  • One way: create separate SPEC-TYPES: one or more for requirements and one for sections.
  • Another way: have one spec type but have it provide a TYPE field that can be used to distinguish between REQUIREMENT or SECTION.

Reference documents

[RD01] ReqIF standard

The latest version is 1.2: Requirements Interchange Format

[RD02] ReqIF Implementation Guide

ReqIF Implementation Guide