Versioning Policy#

Scope#

  • This policy defines versioning rules for specification, core API, and project repositories.

Version Domains#

  • Spec Version - version of this specification.
  • Core API Version - version of runtime contract between clients and core.
  • Project Version - version of each concrete repository/package (core, cli, other clients).

Scheme#

  • All version domains MUST use Semantic Versioning: MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.

SemVer Rules#

  • MAJOR: breaking contract change.
  • MINOR: backward-compatible feature addition.
  • PATCH: backward-compatible fix/editorial correction.

Compatibility Baseline#

  • Clients MUST declare supported Core API Version range.
  • Core runtime MUST expose current Core API Version.
  • On startup/handshake, client-core compatibility MUST be validated before normal operations.
  • Incompatible versions MUST fail with explicit compatibility error.

Release Mapping#

  • Spec Version MAY evolve independently of project package versions.
  • Breaking changes in spec core contract SHOULD increment both Spec Version and Core API Version major versions.
  • Project package versions SHOULD map to internal release cadence but MUST not bypass API compatibility checks.

RKL Format Versioning#

  • *.rkl format version is independent and MUST be declared in manifest.
  • Import MUST validate declared rkl version before processing datasets.
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