Glossary

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This glossary contains the definition of common terms used in the Software Heritage project.

Contents

C

Content
a (specific version of a) file stored in the archive, identified by its cryptographic hashes (SHA1, "git-like" SHA1, SHA256) and its size
Cryptographic hash
a fixed-size "summary" of a stream of bytes that is easy to compute, and hard to reverse. (Cryptographic hash function Wikipedia article)
also known as: Checksum, Digest

D

Directory
a set of named pointers to contents (file entries), directories (directory entries) and revisions (revision entries)

H

Hash
see Cryptographic hash

O

Origin
a location from which a coherent set of sources has been obtained.
Also known as: Data source
Examples:

P

Project
an organized effort to develop a software product. Projects might be nested following organizational structures (sub-project, sub-sub-project), are associated to a number of human-meaningful metadata, and release software products via Origins.

R

Release
a revision that has been marked by a project as noteworthy with a specific, usually mnemonic, name (for instance, a version number).
Also known as: Tag (Git-specific terminology)
Examples:
  • a Git tag with its name
  • a tarball with its name
  • a Debian source package with its version number.
Revision
a "point in time" snapshot in the development history of a project.
Also known as: Commit (VCS terminology)
Examples:
  • a Git commit

S

SHA
(Secure Hash Algorithm) a family of Cryptographic hashes published by the NIST (SHA Wikipedia article)

V

VCS
acronym for Version Control System
Examples: Git, Subversion, Mercurial