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Concept
Universally unique identifier
Summary
A Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) is a 128-bit label used for information in computer systems. The term Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) is also used, mostly in Microsoft systems.
When generated according to the standard methods, UUIDs are, for practical purposes, unique. Their uniqueness does not depend on a central registration authority or coordination between the parties generating them, unlike most other numbering schemes. While the probability that a UUID will be duplicated is not zero, it is generally considered close enough to zero to be negligible.
Thus, anyone can create a UUID and use it to identify something with near certainty that the identifier does not duplicate one that has already been, or will be, created to identify something else. Information labeled with UUIDs by independent parties can therefore be later combined into a single database or transmitted on the same channel, with a negligible probability of duplication.
Adoption of UUIDs is widespread, with many computing platforms providing support for generating them and for parsing their textual representation.
In the 1980s Apollo Computer originally used UUIDs in the Network Computing System (NCS). Later, the Open Software Foundation (OSF) used UUIDs for their Distributed Computing Environment (DCE). The design of the DCE UUIDs was partly based on the NCS UUIDs, whose design was in turn inspired by the (64-bit) unique identifiers defined and used pervasively in Domain/OS, an operating system designed by Apollo Computer. Later, the Microsoft Windows platforms adopted the DCE design as "Globally Unique IDentifiers" (GUIDs).
registered a URN namespace for UUIDs and recapitulated the earlier specifications, with the same technical content.
When in July 2005 was published as a proposed IETF standard, the ITU had also standardized UUIDs, based on the previous standards and early versions of .
UUIDs are standardized by the Open Software Foundation (OSF) as part of the Distributed Computing Environment (DCE).
Official source
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