Add blog post to summarize upcoming spec changes

content/posts/blog/2023-07-07-summary-of-upcoming-changes-in-oci-image-and-distribution-specs-v-1-1.md

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+---
+title: Summary of Upcoming Changes in OCI Image and Distribution Specs v1.1
+author:
+ name: Open Container Initiative
+ tag: oci
+tags: blog
+date: 2023-07-07
+---
+
+As mentioned in an [earlier post](./2023-01-26-oci-in-2023.md), the
+OCI Reference Types Working Group delivered a suggested set of changes
+in the OCI Image and Distribution specs to enable the creation and
+discovery of relationships between objects stored in an OCI registry.
+
+These changes (with some subsequent modifications) will be included in
+upcoming minor releases of both OCI Image and Distribution spec.
+
+# Notes on Versioning and the Term "OCI 1.1"
+
+The version of the upcoming minor releases of both OCI Image and
+Distribution spec happens to be the same: `v1.1.0`.
+
+This has undoubtedly led to the term "OCI 1.1" which is a bit vague and
+incorrect since these changes do not affect the Runtime spec. These versions
+of the individual specifications are all technically independent of each other.
+
+However, when dealing with clients responsible with pushing/pulling from
+registries, or registries themselves, hearing claims of "support for OCI 1.1"
+can be assumed to be relating to reference types and the changes
+outlined in this post.
+
+# List of Major Changes (3)
+
+## 1. Official Guidance on How to Create and Store Alternative (Even Non-Container) Artifacts
+
+For several years, people have been coming up with different ways to
+specify alternative (non-image) artifacts in the registry.
+
+One such method relied on using a custom value for the `config.mediaType`
+field on the image manifest. This is the same method used by tools such
+as Helm, OPA, WASM etc.
+
+In the new OCI releases, this behavior has been finally codified as
+a valid way of specifying this information.
+
+If you look at change #3 below, in the sample JSON response from the registry API,
+you will notice the new field `artifactType` on descriptors. The value of this field
+is either a.) the `artifactType` provided on the manifest when it is pushed or
+b.) the value of `config.mediaType` if the `artifactType` field is missing.
+
+TLDR; for new clients pushing artifacts, there is a new top-level field called
+`artifactType` which can be used to denote a custom, non-image artifact. If
+an object is instead pushed with a custom artifact type in the `config.mediaType`
+field (the old way), this value will be surfaced in the `artifactType` field
+in the API response.
+
+For more information, please see our
+[Guidelines for Artifact Usage](https://github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/blob/main/manifest.md#guidelines-for-artifact-usage).
+
+## 2. New Manifest Field for Establishing Relationships
+
+A new field called `subject` can now be included on manifests
+(including on an index) which points to another object in the registry:
+
+```json
+{
+...
+ "subject": {
+ "mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json",
+ "digest": "sha256:5b0bca...",
+ "size": 7682
+ },
+...
+}
+```
+
+This is the primary mechanism for linking objects to one another. This
+is what is used to determine the proper list returned by the registry
+API endpoint described in #3 below.
+
+If the registry supports the processing of the `subject` field, it is required
+to respond with a header in the following form: `OCI-Subject: sha256:5b0bca...`
+(the value being the `digest` field in the `subject` JSON object).
+
+## 3. New Registry API Endpoint for Querying Relationships
+
+The following HTTP API endpoint has been added to enable
+querying for relationships between objects in the registry:
+`GET /v2/<name>/referrers/<digest>`
+
+The contents of a valid response to this request is a valid OCI
+image index containing a list of descriptors which point to the
+provided digest:
+
+```json
+{
+ "schemaVersion": 2,
+ "mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.image.index.v1+json",
+ "manifests": [
+ {
+ "mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json",
+ "size": 1234,
+ "digest": "sha256:a1a1a1...",
+ "artifactType": "application/vnd.example.sbom.v1",
+ "annotations": {
+ "org.opencontainers.artifact.created": "2022-01-01T14:42:55Z",
+ "org.example.sbom.format": "json"
+ }
+ },
+ {
+ "mediaType": "application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json",
+ "size": 1234,
+ "digest": "sha256:a2a2a2...",
+ "artifactType": "application/vnd.example.signature.v1",
+ "annotations": {
+ "org.opencontainers.artifact.created": "2022-01-01T07:21:33Z",
+ "org.example.signature.fingerprint": "abcd"
+ }
+ }
+ ]
+}
+```
+
+If the response contains a `Link` header
+(see [RFC5988](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5988.html)),
+this indicates that there is another page of results which the client
+should fetch.
+
+In addition, clients may provide a filter in querystring in the form
+`?artifactType=<mediaType>`. Registries may or may not support this
+server-side filtering mechanism. If supported, however, the registry is
+required to respond with a header indicating the filter(s) applied:
+`OCI-Filters-Applied: artifactType`.
+
+Note: the only filter defined at this time is `artifactType`.
+
+# Closing Thoughts
+
+This post attemts to cover all of the major changes involved in adopting
+OCI Image and Distribution specs v1.1, however there are several other
+fine-grained details which can only be understood by carefully reading
+through the specifications.
+
+Some other notable changes include the following:
+
+- `data` field in the descriptor
+- non-distributable layers are deprecated
+- zstd compression support
+- extension support in distribution-spec
+- support for resuming chunked blob push
+- anonymous blob mount support in distribution-spec
+
+We encourage you to take a look at both of the latest specs to see for yourself:
+
+- [Image spec](https://github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/blob/main/spec.md)
+- [Distribution spec](https://github.com/opencontainers/distribution-spec/blob/main/spec.md)
+
+As always, if you need assistance, please reach out to the OCI
+community via GitHub, Slack, or the mailing list. You can find more
+info on how to get in touch with the OCI community
+[here](../../community/overview/).