Do duplicate names really represent an error?

[markkramerus]

In trying to convert the UTG IG, GoFSH reports several errors because of duplicate name. Going into the IG itself, it turns out that indeed, there are cases where two value sets have the same name. However, they have different defining URLs. The question is whether that it legal and acceptable practice, or whether the current behavior of throwing out an error message is correct.

Here's an example of two value sets with the same name but different URL:
https://terminology.hl7.org/ValueSet-v2-0719.html
https://terminology.hl7.org/ValueSet-v3-InformationSensitivityPolicy.html

[jafeltra]

In order to avoid logging the error, GoFSH would need to handle creating the two value sets with the same name in a different way. The recommended approach for FSH authors when they encounter a case where they have two resources that need the same name is to create the FSH entity with a unique name (so the value after the ValueSet: keyword needs to be unique). They can then use a rule to set the name to be the true desired value. To avoid the error in GoFSH, GoFSH would need to be updated to use that strategy.