Author the spec publication date as dct:issued

.gitignore

@@ -71,3 +71,6 @@ code/include
 */__pycache__
 .vercel
 __pycache__/
+
+# Playwright MCP scratch output
+.playwright-mcp/

ontology/dprod/dprod-ontology.ttl

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ dct:description a owl:AnnotationProperty .
 dct:contributor a owl:AnnotationProperty .
 dct:license a owl:AnnotationProperty .
 dct:modified a owl:AnnotationProperty .
+dct:issued a owl:AnnotationProperty .
 
 dprod:
   a owl:Ontology ;
@@ -28,6 +29,18 @@ dprod:
     "The ontology utilizes the notion of Datasets as defined from DCAT vocabulary."@en ;
   rdfs:comment "DPROD is an OWL ontology designed to facilitate interoperability between data product descriptors."@en ;
   dct:license <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/> ;
+  # The publication date of this version of the specification, and the single
+  # source of truth for the date in the generated spec's header. Authored on
+  # purpose: deriving it from the last commit let maintenance changes — a URL
+  # retirement, a typo fix — silently republish the standard (issue #253).
+  # Bump it when a version is issued, in step with owl:versionIRI.
+  #
+  # Once a version is published by OMG, its OMG document number is
+  # authoritative for this date: ptc/YY-MM-NN encodes the month. DPROD 1.0
+  # beta 1 is ptc/25-02-01, hence February 2025 in the frozen archive. The
+  # value below is for the working draft, which has no OMG document number
+  # yet, so it tracks owl:versionIRI instead.
+  dct:issued "2026-06-01"^^xsd:date ;
   dct:modified "2026-08-04"^^xsd:date ;
   dct:publisher <https://www.omg.org/> ;
   dct:contributor <https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthiasautrata> ;

respec/template.html

@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@
       latestVersion: "https://www.omg.org/spec/DPROD/dprod/",
       edDraftURI: "https://ekgf.org/spec/{{ branch }}/",
       specStatus: "base",
+      // Pinned to the branch's last commit by the spec generator. Without it
+      // ReSpec uses the date the page is viewed, since it runs in the reader's
+      // browser (issue #253).
+      publishDate: "{{ publish_date }}",
       editors: [
         {
           name: "Tony Seale, Chair",

site/public/spec/archive/1.0/index.html

@@ -13,6 +13,20 @@
       // group: "Semantic Data Products Working Group",
       latestVersion: "https://ekgf.org/dprod/spec/main/",
       specStatus: "base",
+      // Frozen: DPROD 1.0 beta 1. Hard-coded rather than derived, because this
+      // document is immutable and its date must not move when a maintenance
+      // commit touches the branch. Without it ReSpec would stamp the day the
+      // page is viewed, since it runs in the reader's browser (issue #253).
+      //
+      // The OMG document number is authoritative for the date of a published
+      // DPROD specification. This is ptc/25-02-01, whose YY-MM-NN form gives
+      // February 2025, and the document's own cover agrees ("Date: February
+      // 2025").
+      //
+      // The OMG catalog page instead records "Publication Date: January 2025".
+      // It is not followed: the document number wins. Neither source states a
+      // day, so the 01 is a convention rather than a fact.
+      publishDate: "2025-02-01",
       editors: [
         {
           name: "Tony Seale, Chair",

spec-generator/main.py

@@ -30,6 +30,29 @@ def detect_branch() -> str:
         return "main"
 
 
+def detect_publish_date(g) -> str:
+    """The publication date of this version, from `dct:issued` on the ontology.
+
+    ReSpec runs in the reader's browser, and with no `publishDate` it defaults
+    to the day the page is *viewed*. Every build therefore claimed to have been
+    published today — including the frozen 1.0 archive, whose header changed
+    date every morning (issue #253).
+
+    The date is read from a triple rather than derived from git history. A
+    commit date would mean any maintenance change — retiring a URL, fixing a
+    typo — silently republished the standard. Issuing a version is a decision,
+    so it is recorded as one.
+    """
+    issued = g.value(URIRef(ontology_namespace_iri), DCTERMS.issued)
+    if issued is None:
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            f"<{ontology_namespace_iri}> has no dct:issued. The spec's "
+            "publication date is authored in dprod-ontology.ttl; add the "
+            "triple rather than letting ReSpec fall back to today's date."
+        )
+    return str(issued)
+
+
 # Define a function to add classes and properties to the context
 def add_to_context(g, node_shape_iri, node_shapes: dict):
     if not is_node_shape(g, node_shape_iri):  # we're at this point only interested in the NodeShapes
@@ -100,7 +123,12 @@ def main():
 
     # generate_class_and_property_pages(classes)
 
-    generate_spec_page({'classes': classes, 'examples': examples, 'branch': detect_branch()})
+    generate_spec_page({
+        'classes': classes,
+        'examples': examples,
+        'branch': detect_branch(),
+        'publish_date': detect_publish_date(g),
+    })
 
     g_ontology = load_dprod_ontology()
     g_shapes = load_dprod_shapes()

tests/test_spec_publish_date.py

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+"""The spec's publication date must be authored, never inferred.
+
+ReSpec runs in the reader's browser. With no `publishDate` in its config it
+stamps the day the page is *viewed*, so every DPROD document — including the
+frozen 1.0 archive — reported that it had been published today, and the date
+changed every morning (issue #253).
+
+Deriving the date from git history does not fix it either: a maintenance
+commit that retires a URL or fixes a typo would silently republish the
+standard. The date is therefore a triple, `dct:issued`, and these tests keep
+it that way.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import re
+import unittest
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from rdflib import DCTERMS, Graph, URIRef
+
+REPOSITORY_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+ONTOLOGY_FILE = REPOSITORY_ROOT / "ontology" / "dprod" / "dprod-ontology.ttl"
+SPEC_TEMPLATE = REPOSITORY_ROOT / "respec" / "template.html"
+ARCHIVE_SPEC = (
+    REPOSITORY_ROOT / "site" / "public" / "spec" / "archive" / "1.0" / "index.html"
+)
+ONTOLOGY_IRI = URIRef("https://www.omg.org/spec/DPROD/dprod/")
+ISO_DATE = re.compile(r"^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}$")
+
+
+class SpecPublishDateTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_ontology_carries_exactly_one_issued_date(self) -> None:
+        graph = Graph()
+        graph.parse(ONTOLOGY_FILE, format="ttl")
+
+        issued = list(graph.objects(ONTOLOGY_IRI, DCTERMS.issued))
+
+        self.assertEqual(
+            1,
+            len(issued),
+            "The DPROD ontology must carry exactly one dct:issued; it is the "
+            "single source of the spec's publication date.",
+        )
+        self.assertRegex(str(issued[0]), ISO_DATE)
+
+    def test_template_pins_the_publish_date(self) -> None:
+        template = SPEC_TEMPLATE.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+
+        self.assertIn(
+            'publishDate: "{{ publish_date }}"',
+            template,
+            "respec/template.html must pin publishDate. Without it ReSpec "
+            "falls back to the date the page is viewed.",
+        )
+
+    def test_frozen_archive_pins_a_literal_publish_date(self) -> None:
+        """The 1.0 archive is immutable, so its date is a literal, not a build value."""
+        archive = ARCHIVE_SPEC.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+
+        match = re.search(r'publishDate:\s*"(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2})"', archive)
+
+        self.assertIsNotNone(
+            match,
+            "The frozen 1.0 archive must pin its own publishDate, otherwise an "
+            "immutable standard reports a new publication date every day.",
+        )
+        self.assertNotIn(
+            "{{",
+            match.group(0),
+            "The archive is a static snapshot and must not be templated.",
+        )
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()