This document outlines the items of the OVAL System Characteristics XML schema that are independent of any specific family or platform. Each iten is an extention of a basic System Characteristics item defined in the core System Characteristics XML schema. The OVAL Schema is maintained by The Mitre Corporation and developed by the public OVAL Community. For more information, including how to get involved in the project and how to submit change requests, please visit the OVAL website at http://oval.mitre.org. Independent System Characteristics 5.2 31 January 2007 schematron validation of the Independent portion of an OVAL System Characteristics file This element stores high level system OS type, otherwise known as the family. This element describes the name of an environment variable. item - datatype attribute for the family entity of a family_item should be 'string' This element stores md5 hash associated with a specific file. This item has been deprecated. You should use the filehash_item instead. This item will be dropped in the major release of OVAL. Specifies the absolute path to a file on the machine. item - datatype attribute for the path entity of a filemd5_item should be 'string' The name of the file. item - datatype attribute for the filename entity of a filemd5_item should be 'string' The md5 hash of the file item - datatype attribute for the md5 entity of a filemd5_item should be 'string' This element stores the different hash values associated with a specific file. Specifies the absolute path to a file on the machine. item - datatype attribute for the path entity of a filehash_item should be 'string' The name of the file. item - datatype attribute for the filename entity of a filehash_item should be 'string' The md5 hash of the file item - datatype attribute for the md5 entity of a filehash_item should be 'string' The sha1 hash of the file item - datatype attribute for the sha1 entity of a filehash_item should be 'string' This item stores information about environment variables and their values. This element describes the name of an environment variable. item - datatype attribute for the name entity of an environmentvariable_item should be 'string' The actual value of the specified environment variable. The textfilecontent item looks at the contents of a text file (aka a configuration file) by looking at individual lines. Specifies the absolute path to a file on the machine. item - datatype attribute for the path entity of a textfilecontent_item should be 'string' The filename element specifies the name of the file. item - datatype attribute for the filename entity of a textfilecontent_item should be 'string' The line element represents a line in the file and is represented using a regular expression. item - datatype attribute for the line entity of a textfilecontent_item should be 'string' Each subexpression in the regular expression of the line element is then tested against the value specified in the subexpression element. item - datatype attribute for the subexpression entity of a textfilecontent_item should be 'string' This item stores information about OVAL Variables and their values. The id of the variable. item - datatype attribute for the var_ref entity of a variable_item should be 'string' The value of the variable. If a variable represents and array of values, then multiple value elements should exist. This item stores results from checking the contents of an xml file. Specifies the absolute path to a file on the machine. item - datatype attribute for the path entity of a xmlfilecontent_item should be 'string' The filename element specifies the name of the file. item - datatype attribute for the filename entity of a xmlfilecontent_item should be 'string' Specifies an Xpath expression describing the nodes to look at. item - datatype attribute for the xpath entity of a xmlfilecontent_item should be 'string' The value element checks the value of the nodes found. How this is used is entirely controlled by operator attributes. item - datatype attribute for the value_of entity of a xmlfilecontent_item should be 'string' The EntityItemFamilyType complex type defines a string entity value that is restricted to a set of enumerations. Each valid enumeration is a high-level family of system operating system. The EntityItemVariableRefType complex type defines a string item entity that has a valid OVAL variable id as the value.