Doorstop

Doorstop is a simple requirements management tool that provides a command-line-and-text-editor based workflow. Doorstop facilitates the storage of textual requirements alongside source code in a revision control system. Requirements are stored in human-readable formats (YAML or Markdown) in a versioned repository, making it easy to parse the requirements with additional automation tools.

With Doorstop, each document (a directory) contains a set of requirements, where each requirement is a separate file in the repository. The user can establish links between requirements, including across documents, resulting in a requirements hierachy. Doorstop provides mechanisms for modifying the requirements hierarchy, validating item traceability, and publishing documents in several formats.

Why use Doorstop?

Contributors to an open source project like Space ROS are unlikely to purchase expensive requirements management tools or use heavyweight requirements processes. Using the open source Doorstop tool to manage requirements helps to strike a balance between the need for strong processes to support certification, such as requirements traceability, and ease-of-contributing for the open source community.

To learn more about how Doorstop is used in Space ROS, please refer to this tutorial on the Requirements Tools and Processes used in Space ROS.

Additional References

Please refer to the following resources to learn more about Doorstop:

• Doorstop documentation

• The Doorstop github repository

• Doorstop: Text-Based Requirements Management Using Version Control