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apk: add more qualifiers widely used by scanners and tools#818

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xnox wants to merge 1 commit intopackage-url:mainfrom
xnox:apk-qualifiers
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apk: add more qualifiers widely used by scanners and tools#818
xnox wants to merge 1 commit intopackage-url:mainfrom
xnox:apk-qualifiers

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@xnox xnox commented Feb 21, 2026

Many apk tools are using additional qualifiers for apk
purl. Contribute the status quo as a specification.

Similar to many other purls, distro= is in use by syft/grype and many
other tools to provide a more specific distribution version for a
given namespace. This is useful to tell apart apk from different
alpine release branches.

Syft uses upstream= to denote the package origin, which is loosely a
source package name or "origin" in apk-tools native speak. The name is
unfortunate, but it is widely used. It helps to identify and match
PURLs with the vulnerability feeds - as universally vulnerability
feeds are not on per binary apk name, but on the "origin" name.

Many apk tools are using additional qualifiers for apk
purl. Contribute the status quo as a specification.

Similar to many other purls, distro= is in use by syft/grype and many
other tools to provide a more specific distribution version for a
given namespace. This is useful to tell apart apk from different
alpine release branches.

Syft uses upstream= to denote the package origin, which is loosely a
source package name or "origin" in apk-tools native speak. The name is
unfortunate, but it is widely used. It helps to identify and match
PURLs with the vulnerability feeds - as universally vulnerability
feeds are not on per binary apk name, but on the "origin" name.
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