News

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

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

OpenChain Announces Project Director

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, September 21, 2017 — The OpenChain Project is delighted to announce that from today Shane Coughlan will act as Project Director from the project. This is an expansion of his role from Project Manager and reflects the growing community and momentum around the OpenChain Project.

“It has been my pleasure and honor to help OpenChain scale over the last six months,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Project Director. “We have taken substantial steps towards making the project more accessible and useful for our target market. Now, with our expanded board and growing community of contributors, we will seek to further enhance open source compliance across 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 OpenChain Project

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

OpenChain Receives Additional Contribution From Moorcrofts

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, September 19, 2017 — The OpenChain Project is delighted to announce that our Onboarding Work Team has received an additional contribution of material from Moorcrofts, an OpenChain Partner.

“Moorcrofts has been at the leading edge of introducing the OpenChain Specification and Project to organizations operating in the UK,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Program Manager. “We are extremely lucky to have fostered a close, productive relationship with a law firm that deeply understands the challenges faced in the supply chain. With this latest contribution our Work Team is being positioned to offer a comprehensive quick start package sooner rather than later.”

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 Reference Library
• Moorcrofts Contribution of Material: Onboarding Expanded Overview

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

FSFE Contributes REUSE Guide to OpenChain Curriculum

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, September 13, 2017 –The OpenChain Project is delighted to announce that Free Software Foundation Europe e.V. (FSFE) has contributed their newly launched REUSE.software guide to the OpenChain Curriculum under CC-0 licensing terms.

“The OpenChain Curriculum is a growing body of knowledge that helps companies understand what types of process or best practices can support their compliance efforts,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Program Manager. “We are able to share a substantial amount of material thanks to a wide range of volunteer activity and a substantial number of contributions of material. FSFE’s donation marks a significant expansion of the knowledge available for everyone to use, study, share and improve.”

“REUSE is designed to provide developer best practices for expressing license and copyright information in Free and Open Source Software projects in ways which computers and humans both can understand,” says Jonas Oberg, Executive Director of FSFE. “We are delighted to support the OpenChain Project by contributing our core material to their growing curriculum, and look forward to further collaboration in supporting more convergence around solutions that benefit the entire community.”

• Get this guide and many more documents in the OpenChain Reference Library: https://github.com/OpenChain-Project/Reference-Material

About The OpenChain Project

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.

The OpenChain Project has twelve Platinum Members that support its work: Adobe, Arm, Cisco, Harmen, Hitachi, HPE, GitHub, Qualcomm, Siemens, Toyota, Wind River and Western Digital.

Additional Resources

• The OpenChain Project

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Media Contact:

Laura Kempke
The Linux Foundation
pr@linuxfoundation.org