Network Working GroupPaul J. Leach, Microsoft
INTERNET-DRAFTRich Salz, Open Group
<draft-leach-uuids-guids-00.txt>
Category: Informational
Expires August 24, 1997February 24, 1997
UUIDs and GUIDs
STATUS OF THIS MEMO
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ABSTRACT
This specification defines the format of UUIDs (Universally Unique IDentifier), also known as GUIDs (Globally Unique IDentifier). A UUID is 128 bits long, and if generated according to the one of the mechanisms in this document, is either guaranteed to be different from all other UUIDs/GUIDs generated until 3400 A.D. or extremely likely to be different (depending on the mechanism chosen). UUIDs were originally used in the Network Computing System (NCS) [1] and later in the Open Software Foundation&rsquo’s (OSF) Distributed Computing Environment [2].
This specification is derived from the latter specification with the kind permission of the OSF.