# Specification

## 1 Exposure of Dataspace Protocol Versions

[Connectors](https://docs.internationaldataspaces.org/ids-knowledgebase/dataspace-protocol/overview/terminology#connector--data-service-) implementing the Dataspace Protocol may operate on different versions. Therefore, it is necessary that they can discover the supported versions of each other reliably and unambiguously. Each [Connector](https://docs.internationaldataspaces.org/ids-knowledgebase/dataspace-protocol/overview/terminology#connector--data-service-) must expose information of at least one Dataspace Protocol Version it supports. The specifics of how this information is obtained its defined by specific protocol bindings.

A [Connector](https://docs.internationaldataspaces.org/ids-knowledgebase/dataspace-protocol/overview/terminology#connector--data-service-) must respond to a respective request by providing a JSON-LD object containing an array of supported versions with at least one item. The item connects the version tag (`version` attribute) with the absolute URL path segment of the root path for all endpoints of this version. The following example specifies that this [Connector](https://docs.internationaldataspaces.org/ids-knowledgebase/dataspace-protocol/overview/terminology#connector--data-service-) offers version `1.0` endpoints at `<host>/some/path/v1`.

```json
{
    "@context": "https://w3id.org/dspace/2024/1/context.json",
    "protocolVersions": [
       {
            "version": "1.0",
            "path": "/some/path/v1" 
       }
   ]
}
```

This data object must comply to the [JSON Schema](https://github.com/International-Data-Spaces-Association/ids-specification/blob/main/common/schema/version-schema.json) and the [SHACL Shape](https://github.com/International-Data-Spaces-Association/ids-specification/blob/main/common/shape/version-shape.ttl).

The requesting [Connector](https://docs.internationaldataspaces.org/ids-knowledgebase/dataspace-protocol/overview/terminology#connector--data-service-) may select from the endpoints in the response. If the [Connector](https://docs.internationaldataspaces.org/ids-knowledgebase/dataspace-protocol/overview/terminology#connector--data-service-) can't identify a matching Dataspace Protocol Version, it must terminate the communication.