Package-URL (PURL) specification

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2 Conformance

A conforming implementation of Package-URL (PURL) shall fully implement and support all elements defined within this Standard, including the syntax, components, and semantic requirements for constructing and interpreting valid PURLs.

A conforming implementation of PURL shall adhere to the syntax defined in this Standard, ensuring that all PURLs are parsed, constructed, and validated according to the prescribed rules. The implementation shall provide full support for ecosystem-agnostic behaviour, enabling PURLs to function consistently and reliably across diverse environments.

All required components of a PURL, such as the scheme, type, and name, shall be present and validated according to the rules defined in this Standard. Additionally, optional components, including qualifiers and subpaths, shall be handled appropriately if provided, in full compliance with their specified behaviours.

Implementations shall ensure that equivalent PURLs are consistently resolved to the same canonical representation. This includes strict adherence to normalisation and equivalence rules. Furthermore, implementations shall process URI encoding and decoding for PURL components according to the standards outlined in RFC 3986.

Invalid PURLs that fail to conform to the specification shall be identified and rejected by any conforming implementation. This guarantees the integrity and reliability of PURLs in all supported contexts.

A conforming implementation of PURL may extend its functionality by providing ecosystem-specific validation, processing, or metadata handling, as long as these extensions do not violate the core specification. Additionally, implementations may offer auxiliary tools or features, such as utilities for constructing or validating PURLs, provided they align with the standard's requirements.

A conforming implementation shall not redefine or alter the core syntax, components, or semantics defined by this Standard. Any prohibited extensions explicitly identified in the specification shall not be implemented. Furthermore, behaviours that compromise the interoperability of PURLs across tools, platforms, or ecosystems are strictly disallowed.