page_title: SAML metadata
section_title: Historical origins
hierarchical_section_title: SAML metadata / A history of SAML metadata / Historical origins
caption_attribution_description: The dependencies between iterations of the SAML Metadata specification and the influence of Liberty Metadata on SAML Metadata
context_page_description: The SAML metadata standard belongs to the family of XML-based standards known as the Security Assertion Markup Language published by OASIS in 2005. A SAML metadata document describes a SAML deployment such as a SAML identity provider or a SAML service provider. Deployments share metadata to establish a baseline of trust and interoperability.
context_section_description: In response to Microsoft Passport, the Liberty Alliance conceived the Identity Federation Framework, a federation technology developed over a three-year period between 2002 and 2004. (The previously mentioned history of SAML provides context for ID-FF.) On 14 November 2003, Liberty contributed ID-FF 1.2 to OASIS. The contribution included a document entitled Liberty Metadata Description and Discovery Specification Version 1.0, which included the following design goals:
  "whois for SAML federations" (based on the Organization and ContactPerson elements in metadata)
  dynamic discovery of metadata (with resolution via DNS and Well-Known Location)
  document-level security using XML Signature
  As it turns out, all of those goals were preserved in the OASIS SAML V2.0 Metadata Standard described later in this article.
  The schema document included with the legacy Liberty ID-FF 1.2 archive is identified as Liberty Metadata Version 1.1 whereas Liberty Metadata Version 1.0 was contributed to OASIS. The apparent contradiction was explained by the schema's author. (Peter Davis, Personal Communication) Between November 2003 (when Version 1.0 was contributed to OASIS) and December 2004 (when Version 1.1 was completed by Liberty), development of the Liberty metadata specification continued in parallel with the OASIS work stream. See the chart below for a visual representation. The arrows in the chart indicate dependencies while the dashed lines indicate equivalencies.
  Relevant references into the Liberty work stream are given at the end of this article. The original metadata schema contributed to OASIS is listed in its entirety in section 7 of the Liberty Metadata Version 1.0 specification. Similarly, the specification for Liberty Metadata Version 1.1 includes a listing of the Version 1.1 schema. Both the Version 1.0 schema and the Version 1.1 schema are linked here courtesy of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
caption: SAML metadata dependencies
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