Qualification Kit

To successfully pass an audit and achieve final toolchain qualification, additional information and tools are required. These are not included in this classification document.

The required information is provided through a Qualification Kit, which includes:

  • Additional test cases for Sphinx and Sphinx-Needs.

  • Documentation of checks and process steps, including links to the errors described in this document.

  • A license for ubCode and its command-line tool ubc, enabling specific checks in VS Code and CI environments.

  • A Qualification Report generator to document the final qualification results (part of ubc).

  • Templates for creating consistent Qualification documentation for other tools, both external and internal.

The Qualification documentation is built on the same technical foundation as this classification documentation, primarily using Sphinx and Sphinx-Needs. This allows the classification section to be seamlessly integrated into the Qualification documentation, creating a comprehensive report.

To obtain a Sphinx Qualification Kit, please contact Innotec GmbH or useblocks GmbH.

Qualification Content

The diagram below illustrates the distinction between the Classification and Qualification documentation and toolchain.

The Classification setup allows you to document all project-specific use cases, while the Qualification process extends this information with common checks and restrictions.

This means that the project-specific configuration can be completed in advance using this Open-Source documentation. The Qualification process, supported by its tools, follows afterward to automatically test your project and document the required results.

The Qualification process typically covers over 90% of the documented classification. Any remaining project-specific extensions can be implemented independently or with the support of Innotec GmbH or useblocks GmbH.

The ubc tool enables the required checks to be executed via the command line, allowing you to run them locally or integrate them into your CI pipeline for automated code reviews.

The ubCode tool performs the same checks directly within the VS Code editor, providing immediate feedback to developers.

This toolchain also allows you to perform similar classification and qualification processes for other tools. Additionally, it enables the creation of a unified toolchain qualification project, where the Sphinx-related part serves as a foundational example.

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Showcase

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Imported test cases for Sphinx

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Defined checks for Sphinx

Qualification Method

The qualification process primarily relies on the tools ubCode and its command-line counterpart ubc to recreate specific Sphinx artifacts and verify them for discrepancies.

These tools are developed by separate teams using entirely different technical foundations. If both tools produce identical outputs, the results can be considered safe.

Additionally, the Qualification Kit verifies tool-specific test cases for safety-critical features. If these test cases exist—either as part of the Open-Source project or the Qualification Kit—and their execution is successful (green), the feature can also be deemed safe.

For features that are deemed unsafe, the tool’s execution must be reviewed during or after its run. Special scripts are available for this purpose, which can be integrated into CI pipelines, pre-commit hooks, or used with ubCode to ensure the avoidance of unsafe features.

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2 independent tool chains as Qualification method