The LIN Standard encompasses the specification of the transmission protocol, the transmission medium, the interface between development tools, and the interfaces for software programming. LIN guarantees the interoperability of network nodes from the viewpoint of hardware and software, and a predictable EMC behavior.
 
The Specification package consists of the following documents:

• The Protocol Specification describes the data link layer of LIN.   
• The Transport Layer Specification describes how to transport data that can be up to 4095 bytes. Normally the transport layer is used for node configuration, identification and diagnostics.
• The Node configuration and Identification Specification defines how to configure a slave node and how to identify a slave node.
• The Diagnostic specification describes types of diagnostic services a slave node will support. All diagnostic services are using the transport layer.
• The Physical Layer Specification describes the physical layer, including bit rate, bit rate tolerances, etc.
•  The Application Program Interface Specification describes the interface between the network and the application program, including the node configuration, identification and transport layer interfaces.
• The Configuration Language Specification describes the format of the LIN description file, which is used to configure the complete network and serve as a common interface between the OEM and the suppliers of the different nodes, as well as an input to development and analysis tools.
• The Node Capability Language Specification describes a format used to describe properties of slave nodes. A node capability file may be used with a LIN cluster design tool to automatically create LIN description files.