Open source gets a compliancy programme

THE LINUX FOUNDATION has unveiled an Open Compliance Programme (OPC) developed to deliver a more tightly structured open source playbook.

The service was announced at the Linuxcon expo in the US and big names including AMD, Cisco, Intel, Sony and Google signed up.

The OPC has six elements to address compliance training, tools and services in a world where Linux has expanded.

"As Linux has proliferated up and down the product supply chain, so has the complexity of managing compliance," said Jim Zemlin, executive director of The Linux Foundation.

The Linux Foundation has released open source scanning tools to help ensure compliance and due diligence. The dependency checker identifies code combinations and helps Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) compliance officers identify licences. Other tools include a bill of materials checker, which helps companies look at changes in source code, and a code janitor, which makes sure developers didn't leave comments in source code about future products.

The OPC wants members to perform internal evaluations with a self assessment checklist and use standardisation so open source components are easier to spot.

A new directory of compliance has been added to ensure the good word about free and open source software gets spread more quickly. There's also a training and educational element with community support for OPC at https://fossbazaar.org/.

"Our mission is to enable the expansion of free and open source software, so we created this program to give companies the information, tools and processes they need to get the most out of their investment, while maintaining compliance with the licenses governing the software," Zemlin said. µ