Add DEVIDENCE acquisition conformance profile v0.2

This commit is contained in:
Matthew Raymer
2026-10-06 09:23:46 +00:00
parent c360f66bd6
commit aa205d5c17
3 changed files with 128 additions and 0 deletions
+25
View File
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
# DEVIDENCE Conformance Profiles
This directory contains versioned conformance profiles that specialize existing DSEARCH /
DEVIDENCE meanings into testable implementation requirements.
A profile in this directory is not part of Base Layer conformance merely because it is
present in the standards repository. Its normative requirements bind only an implementation
that explicitly claims the named profile and version.
Profiles may define observable conformance behavior, required distinctions, failure
semantics, test vectors, bindings, or domain-specific constraints while preserving the
governing meanings defined by the Terms of Reference, DSEARCH, and DEVIDENCE.
A profile must not silently redefine Base Layer semantics. If operational evidence shows
that a profile distinction belongs in the Base Layer, that promotion requires a separate
governed standards change under the then-current standards.
Profiles do not authorize their own adoption or promotion. Repository governance and the
then-current standards govern acceptance, revision, deprecation, and replacement.
The first adopted profile is:
- `devidence-acquisition-representation-v0.2.md` — acquisition, representation identity,
integrity comparison, compound/container materialization, bounded representation-adequacy
assertions, reproducible provenance, and associated failure semantics.
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
# DEVIDENCE Acquisition and Representation Conformance Profile
## Version 0.2
Status: ADOPTED EXTERNAL CONFORMANCE PROFILE
Authority scope: implementations explicitly claiming this profile and version
Base Layer authority: NONE
Pre-adoption governing DEVIDENCE standards commit: `c360f66bd624d9c7c57dbf7f7327197a1184aedd`
This document is an adopted external conformance profile. It does not amend DEVIDENCE Base
Layer meanings and does not become part of Base Layer conformance merely by being present in
the standards repository.
Normative keywords such as **SHALL**, **SHALL NOT**, **SHOULD**, and **MAY** apply only to an
implementation that explicitly claims conformance with this profile and version. They have
no Base Layer force.
## Purpose
This profile defines testable implementation behavior for acquisition and materialization
using existing DEVIDENCE meanings. It does not introduce new evidence-object types.
## Conformance observations
An implementation claiming this profile SHALL preserve these observations separately:
1. **Acquisition result** — PASS, FAIL, PARTIAL, or UNKNOWN for the attempted acquisition,
with route/tool/provenance sufficient to explain the result.
2. **Representation identity** — source- and contract-appropriate identity for the exact
representation observed or preserved. A cryptographic digest SHALL be recorded when the
source, transport, profile, or governing contract provides or requires one. This profile
does not require one universal digest algorithm for every representation.
3. **Integrity comparison** — when an expected identity or integrity constraint exists, the
observed representation SHALL be compared against it and the result recorded separately
as PASS, FAIL, or UNKNOWN.
4. **Materialization result** — for compound/container sources, PASS, FAIL, PARTIAL, or
UNKNOWN for the requested member/record/span. Successful container acquisition SHALL NOT
imply successful member materialization.
5. **Bounded representation-adequacy assertion** — when an implementation judges whether a
representation can support an intended claim or transformation, it SHALL record:
- the explicit target claim or transformation;
- the evidence basis used for the judgment;
- PASS, FAIL, or UNKNOWN;
- a claim ceiling describing what the result does not establish.
This assertion is a conformance test result. It is not a truth score, confidence score,
authority score, or new Base Layer evidence type.
6. **Reproducible provenance** — route, tool/version, source identity, representation
identity, transformation/materialization path, and source-supported unknowns needed to
reproduce or audit the result.
## Required failure semantics
An implementation claiming this profile SHALL NOT:
- report acquisition PASS solely because an output file exists;
- report acquisition FAIL solely because an observed representation has zero bytes;
- convert acquisition failure or member-not-found into source absence;
- infer member success from container success;
- report the observed representation as the expected artifact when an integrity comparison
fails;
- infer truth, authority, or completeness from preservation, retrieval success, or identity;
- discard already valid materialized members solely because a later container member fails,
when member boundaries and identity are independently established.
For a PARTIAL container/materialization result, successfully materialized members MAY support
claims bounded to those members. The failed or unparsed remainder SHALL remain explicitly
failed, unavailable through that path, or UNKNOWN as supported by the evidence.
## Minimum conformance vectors
The implementation SHOULD be tested against at least:
- successful claim-bearing HTTP acquisition;
- failed or inadequate HTTP acquisition;
- non-empty local-file success;
- intentionally empty local-file success;
- missing local source;
- expected-identity mismatch;
- successful compound/container acquisition;
- intentionally empty container member;
- missing container member;
- member integrity mismatch;
- malformed/truncated container;
- partially recoverable container with at least one independently valid member;
- bounded adequacy PASS, FAIL, and UNKNOWN cases.
## Authority boundary
This profile has conformance authority only for implementations that explicitly claim this
profile and version. It does not amend DEVIDENCE Base Layer meanings, establish truth, grant
authority to evidence merely because it was preserved or retrieved, or authorize other
profiles. Changes to this profile remain subject to governance under the then-current
DEVIDENCE standards.
+2
View File
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ The architecture is now described through four coordinated documents rather than
- **`dsearch.md` — DSEARCH.** This document describes the search/discovery commons, its Base Layer, interoperability boundaries, decentralization, resilience, governance, and search-oriented contracts.
- **`devidence.md` — DEVIDENCE.** This document describes preservation, acquisition, representation, provenance, derivation, historical backfill, evidentiary observations, disagreement, and the richer evidence surface from which searchable projections may be produced.
Versioned implementation conformance profiles live under **`conformance/`**. These profiles specialize existing shared meanings into testable requirements for implementations that explicitly claim a named profile and version. Presence in `conformance/` does not make a profile part of Base Layer conformance and does not grant it authority to redefine Base Layer semantics.
The split is intended to make the architecture easier to reason about without separating concerns that need to remain connected.
```text