OpenID Working Group specifications use the following naming conventions:
- The title line of a draft contains the draft title, a specification version number (typically 1.0), and a draft number, for example “OpenID Federation 1.0 – draft 32”.
- The filenames for a draft specification in source code repositories incorporate the title and version but not the draft number, for example
openid-federation-1_0.xml
andopenid-federation-1_0.html
. When published toopenid.net/specs/
filenames including the draft number are also published, such asopenid-federation-1_0-32.xml
andopenid-federation-1_0-32.html
. - Drafts published to
openid.net/specs/
use sequential draft numbers. The initial working group draft for a specification uses draft number -00. - The filenames for spec sources and spec outputs are the same, except for the extensions, for example,
fapi-2_0-message-signing.md
andfapi-2_0-message-signing.html
. - Specifications that are Implementer’s Drafts are also published at
openid.net/specs/
with filenames indicating the Implementer’s Draft number, such as openid-client-initiated-backchannel-authentication-core-1_0-ID2.html. - Final Specifications indicate that their status is “Final” in their header material and do not include a draft number, for example, see https://openid.net/specs/openid-connect-prompt-create-1_0.html.
- Final Specifications are also published at
openid.net/specs/
with filenames including -final, such as openid-connect-prompt-create-1_0-final.html. - Specifications including Errata corrections indicate that in their titles, for example, “OpenID Connect Core 1.0 incorporating errata set 2”.
- Specifications including Errata corrections are also published at
openid.net/specs/
with filenames indicating the errata number, such as openid-connect-core-1_0-errata2.html.
OpenID Working Group specifications contain:
- A title.
- A draft number, unless the specification is a Final Specification or a Final Specification incorporating Errata corrections.
- A specification date that is current.
- A list of authors and their affiliations. The affiliation may be “independent”.
- A “Notices” appendix, as specified in the OpenID Intellectual Property Rights Policy document. The appendix starts with “Copyright (c) 2024 The OpenID Foundation.”, where “2024” is updated to be the current year.
- At least these sections:
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Security Considerations
- References, with Normative References and Informative References subsections
- Notices (appendix)
- Acknowledgements (appendix)
- History (appendix) – List of major changes made in each numbered draft (deleted from Final Specifications).
- These sections are also often included:
- Requirements and Notation Conventions – RFC 2119/RFC 8174 references and boilerplate.
- Terminology
- Implementation Considerations
- Privacy Considerations
- IANA Considerations (may indicate that no actions are required from IANA)
- References should be to the most recent stable version of a specification. When referencing OpenID Specifications, references should always be to the versions published at
openid.net/specs/
.
Specifications must not contain:
- IPR Notices for other organizations. (Use
ipr="none"
in the XML source to prevent this when using xml2rfc.)