Should validation fail for a mismatch in versions?

[dnlbauer]

The workflow run crate profile specifically states that is validates against the version 0.5 of the workflow run crate specification.

Right now, the validation still succeeds if a smaller version of the specification is used, i.e. https://w3id.org/ro/wfrun/workflow/0.1.
Is this an intentional choice or should it be considered a bug?

Example

(...)
    {
      "@id": "./",
      "@type": "Dataset",
      "author": {
        "@id": "https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9447-460X"
      },
      "conformsTo": [
        {
          "@id": "https://w3id.org/ro/wfrun/process/0.1"
        },
        {
          "@id": "https://w3id.org/ro/wfrun/workflow/0.1"
        },
        {
          "@id": "https://w3id.org/workflowhub/workflow-ro-crate/1.0"
        }
      ]
(...)
  },
  {
      "@id": "https://w3id.org/ro/wfrun/workflow/0.1",
      "@type": "CreativeWork",
      "version": "0.1"
    }
(...)

[dnlbauer]

I think this is more of a general question and does not only relate to the workflow run crate profile.

I wonder if validation profiles should check for their specific version or state a range of versions they are compatible with and then validate if the crate conforms to this range of versions.

[kikkomep]

I believe it is reasonable for validation profiles to check their specific version while also supporting the validation of minor updated versions. Specifically, a profile with version $V_m$ should validate an RO-Crate with profile version $V_{\text{rocrate}}$ provided that $V_m \leq V_{\text{rocrate}} < V_n$ and $V_m < V_n$.

At the current stage of the validator’s development, we have only one version per profile. To enable validation, the most recent version of the profile is used even if it is more recent than the requested version. When multiple versions become available, the validator should automatically select version $V_m$ according to the relationship specified above. However, users can always choose a specific version of the profile to validate against.

In your specific example, the validation still succeeds because the current constraint on the conformsTo property is not strict and accepts any value starting with the prefix https://w3id.org/ro/wfrun/workflow/. Future versions of the profile may specify a stricter constraint.