T5 – Interoperability

T5 – Interoperability

Version: 0.9.0
Status: Release Candidate
Type: Normative Conformance Test Specification

Copyright © 2026 inside workspace GmbH
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.

1 Introduction

1.1 Purpose

This specification defines the reference interoperability tests for implementations conforming to the KAPRI Specification Suite.

The purpose of these tests is to verify that independently developed Producers and Consumers consistently generate, exchange and validate Knowledge Asset Packages according to the KAPRI specification.

Successful interoperability demonstrates practical conformance beyond individual component validation.

1.2 Scope

This specification defines:

• interoperability validation between independent implementations,
• reference package verification,
• cross-implementation validation,
• interoperability conformance tests.

This specification does not define:

• implementation-specific optimizations,
• transport protocols,
• deployment environments,
• performance benchmarks.

1.3 Relationship to Other Specifications

This specification forms part of the KAPRI Conformance Test Suite.

It validates successful interaction between implementations conforming to:

• S0 – Knowledge Asset Package Architecture Specification
• SC0 – Common Serialization Rules
• SC1 – Common Data Types
• S1 – Package Manifest Schema
• S2 – Packing List Schema
• S3 – Composition Schema
• S4 – KAP Key Delivery Message Schema
• T1 – Public Key Infrastructure
• T2 – Package Generation
• T3 – Package Validation
• T4 – Secure Delivery

2 Interoperability

2.1 Purpose

Interoperability verifies that independent implementations produce equivalent results when processing identical Knowledge Asset Packages.

Successful interoperability confirms that conforming implementations can reliably exchange Knowledge Asset Packages without prior implementation-specific agreements.

2.2 Interoperability Workflow

The reference interoperability workflow SHALL consist of the following steps.

Generate Reference Package
        │
        ▼
Exchange Package
        │
        ▼
Validate Package
        │
        ▼
Validate Secure Delivery
        │
        ▼
Compare Validation Results
        │
        ▼
Determine Interoperability

2.3 Interoperability Responsibilities

The interoperability process SHALL verify that:

• independently generated Packages conform to the KAPRI specifications,
• independent implementations produce equivalent Technical Validation results for equivalent Packages,
• all mandatory Package components are interpreted consistently,
• digital signatures are validated consistently,
• certificate chains are validated consistently,
• encrypted File Keys are interpreted consistently,
• validation results are equivalent for all applicable Technical Validation categories defined by S0,
• Equivalent Technical Validation results SHALL be considered evidence of interoperability.

3 Conformance Tests

The reference interoperability process SHALL provide the following executable conformance tests.

TestPurposeT5.1 | Generate Reference Package
T5.2 | Exchange Package
T5.3 | Validate Package
T5.4 | Validate Secure Delivery
T5.5 | Compare Validation Results
T5.6 | Determine Interoperability

4 Test Execution Order

The interoperability tests SHALL be executed in the following order.

T5.1 Generate Reference Package
        ↓
T5.2 Exchange Package
        ↓
T5.3 Validate Package
        ↓
T5.4 Validate Secure Delivery
        ↓
T5.5 Compare Validation Results
        ↓
T5.6 Determine Interoperability

Each test depends on the successful completion of all preceding tests.

5 Expected Results

The interoperability process SHALL demonstrate that:

• independently developed implementations successfully exchange Knowledge Asset Packages,
• Package validation produces equivalent results,
• cryptographic validation produces equivalent results,
• Encrypted File Keys can be successfully recovered by the intended recipient,
• equivalent Technical Validation results are produced for equivalent Packages.

6 Conformance

An implementation claiming conformance with this specification SHALL:

• successfully process the KAPRI Reference Package and produce equivalent Technical Validation results,
• successfully validate all mandatory Package components,
• produce validation results equivalent to those of the Reference Implementation,
• preserve the semantics defined by the KAPRI Specification Suite.