How are the GS1 XML standards versioned? Are the new versions compatible with the old ones?

Modified on Mon, 2 Sep at 7:43 AM

The GS1 XML suites of standards are published as major and minor versions. The minor versions are backward compatible.

The GS1 versioning uses three numbers to denote a change or update to the standards:

N – used for major changes that are not backward compatible to earlier publications of XML standards.
N.n – used for publication updates that are backward compatible within the same major release.
N.n.n – used for minor changes: errata, navigation, document updates, new guidelines, etc., that are backward compatible within the same major release.

For example, if the Order BMS 2.6.0 required a change to the common library that affected all messages, the new version was renamed Order BMS 3.0.0

All changes in the GS1 XML standards are reflected either as major or minor versions. All minor versions are backward compatible within the same major version. Thus, they can reflect only such changes that allow the message recipient to successfully validate a business document based on an old schema against a new schema. Major versions are applied if this compatibility is broken.

For more information about backward compatibility and GS1 XML versioning clickhere.