Proposal: Support for linux and android types

[ziadhany]

I’m working on a way to generate Url2Purl and Purl2Url conversions and I have one main question: should I use the generic type, or would it be better to create two new types for linux / kernel and android? I’m wondering if creating custom types is a good idea.
I think custom types would help with easier package identification

• Extend url2purl/purl2url coverage for Git-based source hosts packageurl-python#223

>> https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/bluetooth/bluez.git/commit/?id=74770b1fd2be612f9c2cf807db81fcdcc35e6560

type: generic
namespace: git.kernel.org/pub/scm/bluetooth
name: bluez
version: 74770b1fd2be612f9c2cf807db81fcdcc35e6560

type: kernel
namespace: pub/scm/bluetooth
name: bluez
version: 74770b1fd2be612f9c2cf807db81fcdcc35e6560

>> https://android.googlesource.com/device/asus/deb/+/b69a7db64ae64eb63aeae0f211fd8d01b4764c42

type: generic
namespace: android.googlesource.com/device/asus
name: deb
version: b69a7db64ae64eb63aeae0f211fd8d01b4764c42

type: android
namespace: device/asus
name: deb
version: b69a7db64ae64eb63aeae0f211fd8d01b4764c42

[mjherzog]

@ziadhany We do not have a concept of "custom" PURL types. Anyone can create an arbitrary PURL type and we see them often in the "wild" but these will not be recognized by tools that implement PURL - for that you need to register a PURL type.

• AFAIK there is no current proposal to add a new 'android' PURL type
• Adding a PURL type to cover 'linux'/'kernel' is a key part of an ongoing discussion at:
  • Define PURL types for software that is not covered by a package manager #784
    but this will take a month or more to get community consensus.

So in the meantime you should use the existing 'generic' PURL type. We expect that after we resolve #784 and related issues, there will be some effort required to help people convert 'generic' PURLs to the new PURL types.