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HP Launches FOSSology Open Source Tracking Tool
cpudney writes "An article in Computerworld UK reports on a new open source analysis initiative launched by Hewlett-Packard. The FOSSology Project's mission is to 'build a community to facilitate the study of Free and Open Source Software by providing free data analysis tools.' The first such tool reports how an open source project is licensed. Rather than simply collecting a project's advertised license, the tool analyzes all of the source code for a given project and reports all of the licenses being used, based on the license declarations and tell-tale phrases that identify software licensing. A video demonstrating the tool applied to abiword is available. The FOSSology source code is licensed under GPLv2."
Nice to HP getting busy and all, but how is this any sort of breakthrough ?
for file in `find -name *.c` ; do grep GPL $file ; done
??
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
For those that don't want to load the video, there is two files in Abiword (hash.cpp and tword.cpp) that use the original BSD license (with the "obnoxious" advertising clause) and are incompatible with the project's GPLv2 license. Oops.
While it doesn't seem fossology is addressing exactly the same problem space, I can see a project like this taking some marketshare away from commercial products like BlackDuck's protexIP and Palamida ipAmplifier. I work in a field where this would be a very useful tool, and have been wanting to build something like this ourselves and release as an open source project. The issue has always been determining a cost-effective way of keeping the indexes up to date. But rather than scanning code and looking for direct violations, this approach turns that on its head a bit and scans for licenses. This is more a forensic tool than something which can detect all types of violations - if I just took part of a GPL file and placed it in a BSD project (or my own project, for example), it doesn't seem fossology would be able to make that determination. At least, I didn't see that from the video I watched. In any event though, this is a welcome tool for people looking to quickly get a handle on what's in their code. Glad to see it out there.
creation science book
When computers were invented, they were supposed to solve problems. Today, companies have huge IT departments just to solve computer problems that didn't existed before computers.
When FOSS started, its purpose was to write software to solve problems. Today, we're seeing FOSS written to solve FOSS problems, like licensing issues.
Doesn't it kind of defeat the point?
A friend of mine in SF started a company a few years back called Palamida that provides a very similar service. I don't think their code is GPLed though.
LS
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
So, it's an open-source tool that evaluates how open-source open-source software is? Wow. If ever there was an app that demanded a recursive acronym, this is it. Any suggestions?
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Will this help reduce it? 13K sized programs with 50K licenses. Hey, a new game. Stenoproject. Find the hidden program inside the license. Kinda like Where's Waldo.
What?
Off topic, but this is a pet hate of mine -- why bother sticking the logos of web standards on your page when it fails so thoroughly to comply to said standards?
This could be a disaster.
/* Copyright 1982 SCO */ in the headers.
SCO will run Linux through this tool and find out all the stuff in their that has
Arghh.
I like seeing the move to Open Source in quite a few projects, mostly Linux/HP-UX based. But if the internal company reorganization doesn't actually fix some problems, HP as a company is going under. (yes this is still fallout from the whole "who's leaking info to the press let's get their calling records" scandal) The only thing that is saving it from the ineptitude of the management is the talent of the onshore techs, otherwise it'd be dead already. The offshore "towers" are for the most part steaming towers of crap with constant turnover and a willingness to escalate a sneeze into a Sev-2 situation.
;)
Ranting anonymous for obvious reasons, but I'm sure there is quite a few HP'ers who could of written this. HP "invent" your way out of this one management, there is no silver bullet unless it's in your skull.
What about those like vtiger and other companies (or individuals) who leach off open source projects, just taking off the copyright lines? This program doesn't help in those cases. Basically a lot of overhead for little reassurance...
If we need any sort of standard, it should be the simplest of all--public domain. Maybe an XML attribute or watermark. Certain dated materials can be automatically assigned as well.
Please feel free to learn more about this issue.
Doesn't it seem like a bad idea for HP to be using a name that sounds like "fossile".
In light of the BSD tidbit above, it could be renamed: OhNO! ... ONO's Not militantly Open enough! (where the "militantly" and "enough" are silent.)
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
SCO who?
The Raven
Isn't this what http://www.ohloh.net/ does (and much more)?
If an OSS developer releases a GPL v2 project that links to several libraries that use incompatible licenses, and possibly a proprietary one, does that affect in any way the developer's rights? Could the developer be held liable to correct every violation before being allowed to sue a 3rd party for infringement of his own terms? What if one of the holders of the copyrights of the linked libraries were to ignore the infringement of the developer in question and ignore the suit and any legal correspondence -- does that library developer relinquish their copyright to the public domain?
If I wrote an algorithm one year, Linus were to include it in his kernel 6 months later without attribution or paying me the 1 Spanish doubloon I required in my license as it were, and I were to not sue him after some period of time, does Linus automatically get a license to use my algorithm? What about Linus's fellow Linux developers (thousands exist)? Can Linus transfer his immunity to my copyright to another entity? Do I no longer own this copyright at all -- has the license simply expired due to my lack of vigilance?