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 and openid-federation-1_0.html.  When published to openid.net/specs/ filenames including the draft number are also published, such as openid-federation-1_0-32.xml and openid-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 and fapi-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.)