Shane Coughlan

OpenChain Project Releases Quick Start Package

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, October 12, 2017 — The OpenChain Project is proud to announce the release of an expanded Quick Start package. It consists of a brief infographic, a one page overview of the project, a detailed two-pager and a slide deck. This package is intended to help project leaders, business decision-makers and legal teams easily understand the purpose and value proposition of the OpenChain Specification, Conformance and Curriculum.

“The OpenChain Project supports efficient open source compliance in the supply chain,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Project Director. “Our new Quick Start package helps to explain this mission and how we accomplish it in a clear, concise manner. As with all material we release from our Curriculum and Onboarding Work Teams, we are making this package available under CC-0 licensing terms. This allows everyone to remix, translate and share without restriction.”

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

• The OpenChain Quick Start Page

你好！The OpenChain Specification is in Chinese

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, October 11, 2017 — The OpenChain Project is delighted to announce that official translations of the OpenChain Specification in Simplified and Traditional Chinese are now available.

“The OpenChain Project is keen to engage the broadest possible audience and adoption,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Project Director. “Today our goal of being an accessible and understandable approach to managing open source compliance in the supply chain is one step closer. The value of translations in Simplified and Traditional Chinese is immense and on behalf of the entire project I want to thank our dedicated volunteers for creating this material.”

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

• The OpenChain Specification in Simplified Chinese
• The OpenChain Specification in Traditional Chinese
• The OpenChain Reference Library

OpenChain Project Announces Open Session at Open Source Summit Europe

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, October 10, 2017 — The OpenChain Project will hold an Open Session at Open Source Summit Europe in Prague from 2pm to 4pm on Tuesday the 24th of October. This event will take place in the Roma room and is open to all interested parties. It will be an interactive session to discuss the OpenChain Specification, Conformance, Curriculum and Onboarding. Participants are asked to RSVP the Project Director to confirm their attendance.

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

• The Open Source Summit Europe website.

OpenChain Project Announces Two Talks At Open Source Summit Europe

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, October 5, 2017 — The OpenChain Project will be featured in two talks at the Open Source Summit Europe conference held between the 23rd and 26th of October in Prague. Both of these talks will be held on Monday the 23rd of October and will feature Shane Coughlan, the OpenChain Project Director.

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

• The Open Source Summit Europe website.

Bonjour! The OpenChain Specification Is In French

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, October 4, 2017 — The OpenChain Project is delighted to announce that the OpenChain Specification version 1.1 now has an official French translation. This translation was lead by Camille Moulin (Innoc3) with support from Benjamin Jean (Innoc3) and Bruno Grasset (Elektrobit France).

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

• The OpenChain Project translation page
• The OpenChain Reference Library

OpenChain Project Sponsors Open Compliance Summit in Yokohama

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, October 3, 2017 — The OpenChain Project is proud to sponsor the Open Compliance Summit scheduled for November 16th and 17th in Yokohama, Japan. The Open Compliance Summit is an exclusive 2-day event for Linux Foundation members and select invitees. The summit provides a neutral environment for participants from different companies and different backgrounds to:

• Discuss and exchange compliance best practices (processes, policies, guidelines, tools, open source governance, etc.)
• Increase awareness on implementing and managing a compliance program, and managing compliance via your supply chain
• Discuss common compliance challenges and how to address them
• Increase involvement of participants in The Linux Foundation Open Compliance Program (tools, templates, SPDX, etc.)

“The Open Compliance Summit has grown from humble beginnings into one of the key compliance and governance events in our field,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Project Director. “The OpenChain Project is delighted to both participate in and sponsor this event. Our goal is to help expand and share knowledge around open source compliance for every stakeholder in the supply chain.”

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

• The Open Compliance Summit website.

Commons Conservancy Contributes Material To The OpenChain Project

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, September 28, 2017 — The Commons Conservancy has contributed a guide to including license information in software source files to the OpenChain Project. This guide, as with all material contributed to the OpenChain Project, is licensed under CC-0.

“This contribution from the Commons Conservancy builds on previous material provided to the OpenChain Project,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Project Director. “It will find a natural home in our expanded curriculum material and supports the sharing of best practices for both manual and automated review. We are immensely grateful to Michiel and the rest of the team at Commons Conservancy for creating excellent knowledge resources and sharing them with a global audience through the OpenChain Project.”

“Licensing and copyright notices in software are typically handled in very much the same way as in the age of Koster and Gutenberg. For all parties that need to deal with them they involve tedious, manual labour – repetitively checking the same data over and over again. This is not only inefficient, but makes it easy to make mistakes,” says Michiel Leenaars, Chairman of the Commons Conservancy. “It is long overdue to automate this antiquated aspect of modern software development. And ironically, keeping stock of this type of information is what computers were created for in the first place. Establishing best practices that show how to do this efficiently, without adding unnecessary complexity, is important for the industry. As the Commons Conservancy we have been gathering and promoting best practices for our projects because we care about the long term manageability of the whole system. We are happy to see Openchain committed to bringing together industry best practices from across the field, and to contribute our work to this initiative.”

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

• The Commons Conservancy ‘Including License Information’ guide on the Commons Conservancy website.

OSADL Announces Material Contribution To The OpenChain Project

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, September 26, 2017 — The OpenChain Project today announces a commitment from the Open Source Automation Development Lab to provide reference license requirement checklists to the OpenChain Curriculum. The full project description is available today from the OSADL website. This material, as with all material contributed to the OpenChain Project, is licensed under CC-0.

“OSADL’s work to create reference license requirement checklists offers an intriguing opportunity to support increased automation when dealing with inbound or outbound software,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Project Director. “The contribution of this material to the OpenChain Curriculum provides us with an interesting platform not only to educate and inform, but also to collaborate with sister projects such as SPDX and FOSSology in the development and dissemination of improved approaches to open source license management.”

“The project to create trusted checklists of open source license obligations has created quite some enthusiasm long before it was launched, and it looks like contributors are waiting in the wings,” says Dr. Carsten Emde, General Manager of Open Source Automation Development Lab (OSADL) eG. “We here at OSADL are looking forward to hosting a great project the results of which will be contributed to the OpenChain initiative and subsequently embark on a successful journey around the world.”

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

• The OSADL Reference License Requirement Checklist Project on the OSADL website.

OpenChain Releases Unofficial Polish Translation

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, September 22, 2017 — The OpenChain Project today announces the release of an unofficial Polish translation of the OpenChain Specification 1.1.

“Unofficial OpenChain Specification translations are created by a single volunteer and form the foundation of later official releases,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Program Manager. “We have received this kind donation from Rafał Malujda of Rafal Malujda Law Office, and from this point forward we are putting out a call to help us formalize the translation and add it to our official list.”

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

• The OpenChain Translations Page
• The Unofficial OpenChain Specification 1.1 in Polish
• The Polish OpenChain Translation project and many more guides and documents on the OpenChain Reference Library

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