2.1. Naming Conventions for Release Files and Packages

The release file naming convention specified in this section applies to all SNOMED International release filesstarting with the January 2010 International release. The release package naming convention specified was added subsequently to provide additional clarity through a structured name applied to the folder (and zip archive name) containing a set of release files. This package naming convention first applied to releases by SNOMED International during 2017.

These naming specifications provides the following benefits:

• A consistent naming convention across the International editionand each National edition.

• Predictable file naming, providing a stable structure for naming over time between releases.

• A standard way to identify the source country and namespaceof the organization responsible for a release file.

• A consistent mechanism for representing version of release files and packages of release files.
• An human readable way to identify the content of a file, at a summary level.

• A mechanism for identifying the type of information stored in a release file(e.g. documentation, tooling, etc.).

• Guidance on file naming for release filesin non-English extensions.

• Assurance that file names will be unique across the International releaseand releases from individual National releasecenters and across separate releases from each center over time.

• An upgrade path, to enabled use of the same naming convention to be applied to both release files using the current release format(RF2), as well as the earlier release format (RF1) while also enabling easy identification of which format is used in eavh file.

Quality Assurance checks, to ensure that this naming convention is enforced, will be performed as part of the International releaseprocess. Equivalent checks should be performed as part of each National Release Center'srelease process.