Dev:Versions

XML Railway exchange format https://railML.org Latest release: 2.5 (September 1st, 2021)

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🗒️ The subject of this article are official version releases. If you are interested in accessing, setting and naming developer versions, see dev:versioning.

Release Policy

Major Release

Reason

Commited changes have affects on XML-instance files and should be announced in advance in corresponding railML^® newsgroups.

Decision

Tagging a major release after railML^® conferences' consensus

Version number

Increasing first digit, e.g. version="2.0"

Namespace

Changing the year in the namespace string, e.g. xmlns="https://www.railml.org/schemas/2009"

Minor Release

Reason

Commited changes have no affects on XML-instance files, but on other coordinators' XSD-schema files.
Commits of new elements, types and/or attributes are allowed.

Decision

Tagging a minor release after railML^® coordinators' consensus

Version number

Increasing second digit, e.g. version="2.1"

Namespace

Up to railML^® 2.x the year changed in the namespace string. This policy will be changed from railML^® 3.1 on the way it was originally intended: not changing the namespace string. e.g. xmlns="https://www.railml.org/schemas/2011".

Corrigendum

Reason

Corrigendum commits and cosmetic changes with no affect on XML-instance files are allowed.

Decision

Tagging a corrigendum after railML^® coordinators' consensus

Version number

Increasing third digit, e.g. version="2.0.1"

Namespace

No influence on the namespace string, e.g. xmlns="https://www.railml.org/schemas/2009"

Unofficial/Developers Version

Reason

Depending on the current policy only Subversion commits for corrigendum, minor or major railML^® releases are checked into the repository for further feature development.

Decision

User requirements from the forum are kept in the railML^® ticket system: For railML^® 2 they can be found here; for railML^® 3 they can be found here. The railML^® coordinators prioritize them, code each single topic in a railML^®ish way and commit changed files into the Subversion repository. See also Officially released versus developer version for more information.

Version number

Each atomic Subversion commit is tagged with the increasing Subversion number. The last official version number is expanded by the Subversion release number. e.g. version="2.1r460"

Namespace

No influence on the namespace string, e.g. xmlns="https://www.railml.org/schemas/2011"

Version numbers and corresponding namespaces

How to describe the version number of a railML^® file? Or to find out which version a railML^® file belongs to?

Version numbers

You will find a version attribute in the railML^® root element <railml> as well as in the root elements of the sub-schemas as <infrastructure>, <rollingstock>, <timetable>. This attribute is to be used for the version number of the railML^® schema the XML file is based on.

Major, minor and corrigendum version are separated by a dot, the release number is separated by r. Corrigendum and release number are optional:

<major version>.<minor version>[.<corrigendum>][r<release number>]

The following rules apply:

• The release number is required to be omitted if a railML^® file is based on an official released railML^® version. This applies to railML^®'s release numbers

 * 2.0r270 has to be given as 2.0,
 * 2.1r409 has to be given as 2.1,
 * 2.2r602 has to be given as 2.2,
 * 2.3r668 has to be given as 2.3,
 * 2.4r862 has to be given as 2.4,
 * 2.5r1327 has to be given as 2.5 and
 * 3.1r989 has to be given as 3.1, all respectively without release number.

• The release number shall be considered mandatory in all other cases, e. g. if it is "an unofficial release version" but an intermediate. For more information on the relevance of intermediate versions see Officially released versus developer version.

• The attribute version of the root element of the railML^® file shall be considered mandatory. If the root element of the railML^® file is <railml>, the attribute version of the subsequent elements <infrastructure>, <rollingstock>, <timetable> are optional. If they are used, they have to be identical to the version of <railml>.

• The corrigendum release number is mandatory, if the release is tagged this way. Otherwise it shall be ommited.

This official railML^® version number should not be confused with an implementation dependent software version in the metadata elements dc:format and/or dc:identifier.

Namespace declarations

As above mentioned the XML namespace does also change with the railML^® version. The following table shows this relationship for all official railML^® versions.

railML® version number	railML® namespace string	remote schema location	HTTPS access
1.0	no namespace	different schema locations for sub-schemas	no
1.1	https://www.railml.org/schemas/2007	https://schemas.railml.org/2007/railML-1.1/railML.xsd	no
2.0	https://www.railml.org/schemas/2009	https://schemas.railml.org/2009/railML-2.0/railML.xsd	yes, optional
2.1	https://www.railml.org/schemas/2011	https://schemas.railml.org/2011/railML-2.1/railML.xsd	yes, optional
2.2	https://www.railml.org/schemas/2013	https://schemas.railml.org/2013/railML-2.2/railML.xsd	yes, optional
2.3	https://www.railml.org/schemas/2016	https://schemas.railml.org/2016/railML-2.3/schema/railML.xsd	yes, optional
2.4	https://www.railml.org/schemas/2018	https://schemas.railml.org/2018/railML-2.4/schema/railML.xsd	yes, mandatory
2.5	https://www.railml.org/schemas/2021	https://schemas.railml.org/2021/railML-2.5/schema/railML.xsd	yes, mandatory
3.0 (alpha & beta only)	https://www.railml.org/schemas/2015	Alpha & Beta phases finished	no
3.1	https://www.railml.org/schemas/3.1	https://schemas.railml.org/3.1/railml3.xsd	yes, mandatory
3.2	https://www.railml.org/schemas/3.2	https://schemas.railml.org/3.2/railml3.xsd	yes, mandatory

The XML file should declare the same XML namespace (identical string) as defined by its corresponding XML Schema. For general information about namespaces see Defining namespaces and validating railML^® files.

A railML^® file based on an intermediate release with remote schema location shall refer to a commit on our development platform (link to the railML^® website). This is

• for railML^® 2: https://development.railml.org/railml/version2/-/commit/<commit number>
• for railML^® 3: https://development.railml.org/railml/version3/-/commit/<commit number>

For instance commit 5f735749 (railML^® 2) can be found under https://development.railml.org/railml/version2/-/commit/5f735749. It corresponds to commit [416] of our legacy Apache Subversion Control () (SVN).
Commit 6e7d61fa (railML^® 3) can be found under https://development.railml.org/railml/version3/-/commit/6e7d61fa and corresponds to SVN commit [1026].

Licenses

All currently supported railML^® versions are licensed dually under a restricted form of the Creative Commons licence (external link) CC-BY-NC-ND and (for certified programmes) in a commercial licence. To learn more about the licence terms see https://www.railml.org/en/user/licence.html (link to the railML^® website).

Examples

railML file of official released railML version 2.0, remote schema location:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<railml version="2.0"
  xmlns="https://www.railml.org/schemas/2009"
  xmlns:xsi="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
  xsi:schemaLocation="https://www.railml.org/schemas/2009 https://schemas.railml.org/2009/railML-2.0/railML.xsd">
  ...
</railml>

railML^® file of intermediate release SVN #416/commit [5f735749] (between official releases 2.1 and 2.2), remote schema location:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<railml version="2.1r416"
  xmlns="https://www.railml.org/schemas/2011"
  xmlns:xsi="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="https://development.railml.org/railml/version2/-/raw/5f73574937776c5fc7b228d7eb149c64f96b2a34/schema/railML.xsd">
  ...
</railml>