Catalog versions

A bit has meaning only within the catalog that assigned its question and position. Preserve that catalog identity alongside every profile, mask, and assessment record.

The identifier

The manuscript uses:

author/language/YYe

The letters represent editions: a is first, b second, d fourth, and f sixth. They do not mean months or quarters. An extension beyond the available single letters remains to be specified.

Naming examples

These are naming examples, not published-release announcements. A project namespace such as nis2 does not imply endorsement by an authority.

A model-based namespace also does not specify a checkpoint or the people responsible for reviewing its output. For example, the runtime tag qwen3:235b and the catalog namespace qwen3-235b serve different purposes.

Annotate the profile

The printed notation places the catalog identity above the profile and the set index below it. In a plain-text or structured presentation, state them explicitly:

Catalog: groupa/en/26d
SFS:       A
Set value: 0123

The system scope, evidence period, and assessment date remain separate assessment metadata.

Freeze a published edition

Once published, a catalog edition is immutable. A change to a question, evidence rule, meaning, or position requires a new edition and a mapping from the predecessor.

The release manifest should identify:

• The actual author or maintainer and namespace ownership.
• The exact artifact digest.
• The parent edition and changes or mappings.
• The review policy and review status.
• The compatible catalog resources and applicable release licenses.

A branch or latest-release link helps people find content. It does not preserve the exact bytes used for an assessment.

Keep the dates separate

Reviewing an unchanged catalog does not create a new catalog edition. Inspecting a service does not change the release identity.

Bind a working mask to a catalog snapshot

A draft mask has catalog.edition: null and an explicit catalog.digest. The build computes SHA-256 over the sixteen ordered SFS definitions and their 256 linked SF authoring records. Object keys are normalized recursively; array order is retained. Formatting and object-key order do not change this semantic snapshot identity. Included definition or authoring-metadata changes do; mask records and Markdown presentation are outside the digest.

This normalized snapshot digest is separate from the exact artifact-byte digest in a published release manifest. Both should state what they identify.

If a mask's bound digest differs from the deployed catalog, the library keeps it discoverable and disables comparison. Review the changed definitions and selection before rebinding. Copying a new digest alone does not establish compatibility.

Catalog edition, mask revision and schema version

Promotion of a mask to reviewed requires a published catalog edition, a named maintainer and an accepted, named and dated review. A changed selection or binding needs a new mask revision and review. The initial MASKS examples are drafts bound to an unreleased snapshot.

Deployment labels and interface languages

Content branches use language/instance, such as en/main, el/main or en/staging. Instances include main, staging, development, nis2 and qwen2. Template branches such as v1 identify a separate build input. These names do not replace a catalog edition or digest. A deployment instance is different from an assessment instance for a system; see terms and notation for the domain naming.

Content language codes such as en, el and fr differ from interface locales such as en-US, el-GR and fr-FR. Missing definitions or pages can display English fallback with their original identity and source links. A Greek interface can therefore contain English or mixed catalog definitions.

Compare editions and translations carefully

Before comparing profiles, establish equivalent question meanings and positions. If meanings or positions changed, use an explicit mapping rather than comparing the hexadecimal strings directly.

Translations need reviewed equivalence and documentation of contextual differences. Identical identifiers do not by themselves guarantee that two readers are answering the same condition.

An English mask shown through fallback keeps its English catalog binding. If translated or mixed definitions change the resolved snapshot digest, it remains unavailable for comparison until an appropriate mask is reviewed and bound to that snapshot. The current comparator does not automatically translate masks or apply cross-edition mappings.

Older year-and-month labels require an explicit alias to an immutable catalog edition. A month cannot distinguish multiple releases made within that month.

Planned early release

The reviewed complete catalog and canonical guidance will accompany the finished paper, with compatible reviewed catalog, SFS and individual-SF masks. The manuscript uses the illustrative designation groupa/en/26a. Its release manifest will supply the actual publishing identity, exact artifacts, resource URLs and licenses. A trained small language model remains a planned deliverable as training and evaluation progress.

Read project status for the release plan and question records for the proposed record design.