Naming Policy

This document defines naming policy for modulemd metadata of final (built) modules. This policy does NOT apply on sources such as modulemd yaml in dist-git.

The goal is to provide unique identifiers for modules that are both human readable and also suitable for machine processing.

Fields

  • N - Name

  • S - Stream

  • V - Version

  • C - Context

  • A - Arch

  • P - Profile

Separators

Fields are separated with ':' (colon): N:S:V:C:A.

If P is specified, it’s separated from N:S:V:C:A with '/' (forward slash): N:S:V:C:A/P.

Examples

# N:S:V:C:A
mariadb:3.6:1:0123abcd:x86_64
# N:S:V:C:A/P
mariadb:3.6:1:0123abcd:x86_64/server

Forms

A form is a sequence of fields that fully or partially identifies a module.

Full Forms

N:S:V:C:A

Unique identifier of a module.

N:S:V:C:A/P

Unique identifier of a module profile.

Partial Forms

Supported partial forms are: N [ : S [ :V [ :C ] ] ] [ :A ] [ /P ]

Namely:

  • N

  • N::A

  • N:S

  • N:S::A

  • N:S:V

  • N:S:V::A

  • N:S:V:C

  • N:S:V:C:A (identical to N:S:V:C::A)

  • and all combinations with /P

Missing fields SHOULD be populated with recommended defaults:

Stream

defaults to the enabled or system default stream for the module in this particular order

Version

defaults to the latest available version in the module stream

Context

defaults to a value matching with already installed modules or modules involved in the transaction (not yet installed)

Arch

defaults to the system arch (e.g. DNF’s $basearch)

Profile

defaults to the system default or 'default' profile

Allowed Characters

N - Name

a-z A-Z 0-9 . - _

S - Stream

a-z A-Z 0-9 . - _

V - Version

0-9

C - Context

0-9 a-f

A - Arch

a-z A-Z 0-9 . - _

P - Profile

a-z A-Z 0-9 . - _

All fields MUST start and end with an alphanumeric character: a-z A-Z 0-9

Forbidden Characters

This paragraph serves as a design decision for future changes.

Following characters MUST NOT be part of any field:

  • : (colon) - separator

  • / (forward slash) - profile separator

  • \ (backslash) - comon control character

  • * (asterisk) - common wildcard

  • ? (question mark) - common wildcard

  • @ (at) - grpspec in YUM and DNF

  • ` ` (space) - common separator