The ros_comm package provides tools for writing and dynamically loading plugins using the ROS build infrastructure. To work, these tools require plugin providers to register their plugins in the package.xml of their package. ros_comm is a C++ library for loading and unloading plugins from within a ROS package. Plugins are dynamically loadable classes that are loaded from a runtime library (i.e. shared object, dynamically linked library). With ros_comm, one does not have to explicitly link their application against the library containing the classes -- instead ros_comm can open a library containing exported classes at any point without the application having any prior awareness of the library or the header file containing the class definition. Plugins are useful for extending/modifying application behavior without needing the application source code.
