Research family · Chinje

Chinje: architecture conformance as a research discipline.

Architecture conformance research around the Chinje project: how specification and implementation are compared, how drift is classified, and what remains unknown. The documents are specifications and a concept paper, not peer-reviewed publications.

Specification workNot peer-reviewedNo DOI claimed

Chinje is a governance research direction concerned with intent, authority and obligation tracking. The architecture-conformance project underneath it asks a narrower and more testable question: given a specification and an implementation, what can a reviewer honestly say about whether the two match?

The project uses a four-label conformance vocabulary (ALIGNED, DRIFTED, UNKNOWN, DEGRADED) and six drift classes (structural, behavioural, contractual, operational, semantic and dependency/configuration). These are classification labels for research review, not automated detection results or certification outcomes.

The published material for this project consists of specifications, a reference implementation flow and an MSc concept paper. None is peer-reviewed, none carries a DOI on this site, and no conformance tooling is claimed to be public or validated. The entries record the work at specification and concept maturity.

Conformance vocabulary

Four conformance labels and six drift classes.

The project records conformance state rather than assuming it. A specification and an implementation can be aligned on the evidence examined, observably drifted, degraded in an obligation, or simply undecidable on the available evidence. Drift is classified to make findings comparable.

Conformance classification

ALIGNED: The implementation conforms to the specification on the evidence examined. Alignment is scoped to that evidence, not a general guarantee.
DRIFTED: The implementation diverges from the specification in an observable, attributable way.
UNKNOWN: The available evidence is insufficient to decide conformance. Unknown is not treated as aligned.
DEGRADED: The implementation still operates, but an invariant or contractual obligation no longer holds.

These are research classification labels used by the Chinje architecture-conformance project. They are not audit results, certification outcomes or automated verdicts.

Drift classes

Structural: Differences in components, boundaries or how parts are composed.
Behavioural: Differences in observable behaviour, transitions or ordering.
Contractual: Differences in the obligations a component actually guarantees.
Operational: Differences in how the system is operated, observed or recovered.
Semantic: Differences in meaning between what the specification states and what the implementation does.
Dependency/configuration: Differences introduced by dependencies, configuration or the environment.

The six drift classes organise findings in the research review. They are classification vocabulary, not a validated detection method.

The project documents

The written material for the project, reproduced in the registry at its actual status. The documents describe intent, specification and flow; none is a peer-reviewed publication and none is evidence that a conformant production implementation exists.

Distributed Systems and GovernanceFormal specificationMaturity: Specified

Chinje Software Design Formal Specification

This document specifies the Chinje software design: the structures, interfaces, contracts and conformance conditions against which an implementation is compared. It is written as a specification, not as a peer-reviewed paper, and it does not carry a DOI on this site.

The specification is the reference side of the architecture-conformance work. Conformance review asks whether an implementation is aligned with it, has drifted from it, has degraded relative to it, or cannot be decided on the available evidence.

Author: George Ocharo Onchaba
Research family: Distributed Systems and Governance

Chinje product and scope

Related research

Distributed Systems and GovernanceFormal specificationMaturity: Specified

Chinje Implementable Technical Specification

The implementable technical specification narrows the design into contract surfaces and obligations that an implementation is expected to satisfy. It is intended to be usable by an implementer, which is a different standard from being easy to read.

It is a specification document. It is not a peer-reviewed publication, no DOI is claimed for it here, and it is not evidence that a conformant production implementation exists.

Author: George Ocharo Onchaba
Research family: Distributed Systems and Governance

Related research

Distributed Systems and GovernanceProposed architectureMaturity: Proposed

Chinje Reference Implementation Flow

The reference implementation flow describes how a conformant implementation is intended to be taken from specification through construction and review. It documents a sequence of activities and checkpoints, not a shipped reference implementation.

The flow is recorded as a proposed architecture at proposed maturity. It is not a peer-reviewed publication, no DOI is claimed, and it does not establish that the described checkpoints have been automated or validated.

Author: George Ocharo Onchaba
Research family: Distributed Systems and Governance

Related research

Distributed Systems and GovernanceWorking paperMaturity: Research

Chinje MSc Concept Paper

The Chinje MSc concept paper records the motivation, framing and research questions behind the Chinje direction. It is a concept document written for academic development, not a peer-reviewed paper or a publication of results.

No DOI, journal publication or independent review is claimed for it on this site. It is included in the registry so that the research direction is documented at concept maturity instead of being presented as a validated method.

Author: George Ocharo Onchaba
Research family: Distributed Systems and Governance

Related research

What the project is for. Architecture conformance is a discipline for asking what a system actually implements relative to what was specified, and for refusing to call an unknown state “aligned”. It is a research question about evidence and judgement, not an automated certification product. The formal methods research supplies the invariant vocabulary the project uses.