// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// * operators/understanding/olm-packaging-format.adoc
// * operators/understanding/olm/olm-understanding-dependency-resolution.adoc

:_mod-docs-content-type: CONCEPT
[id="olm-dependencies_{context}"]
ifeval::["{context}" == "olm-packaging-format"]
= Dependencies

endif::[]
ifeval::["{context}" != "olm-packaging-format"]
= Operator dependencies

endif::[]

The dependencies of an Operator are listed in a `dependencies.yaml` file in the `metadata/` folder of a bundle. This file is optional and currently only used to specify explicit Operator-version dependencies.

The dependency list contains a `type` field for each item to specify what kind of dependency this is. The following types of Operator dependencies are supported:

`olm.package`:: This type indicates a dependency for a specific Operator version. The dependency information must include the package name and the version of the package in semver format. For example, you can specify an exact version such as `0.5.2` or a range of versions such as `>0.5.1`.

`olm.gvk`:: With this type, the author can specify a dependency with group/version/kind (GVK) information, similar to existing CRD and API-based usage in a CSV. This is a path to enable Operator authors to consolidate all dependencies, API or explicit versions, to be in the same place.

`olm.constraint`:: This type declares generic constraints on arbitrary Operator properties.

In the following example, dependencies are specified for a Prometheus Operator and etcd CRDs:

.Example `dependencies.yaml` file
[source,yaml]
----
dependencies:
  - type: olm.package
    value:
      packageName: prometheus
      version: ">0.27.0"
  - type: olm.gvk
    value:
      group: etcd.database.coreos.com
      kind: EtcdCluster
      version: v1beta2
----