Software Licenses, Open Source Components, and Open Architectures
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Authors
Alspaugh, Thomas
Asuncion, Hazel
Scacchi, Walt
Subjects
Open Architecture (OA)
Software-intensive Systems, Open Architecture (OA), Open Source Software (OSS), Copyright
Software-intensive Systems, Open Architecture (OA), Open Source Software (OSS), Copyright
Advisors
Date of Issue
2009-04-01
Date
01-Apr-09
Publisher
Language
Abstract
A substantial number of enterprises and independent software vendors are adopting a strategy in which software-intensive systems are developed with an open architecture (OA) that may contain open source software (OSS) components or components with open APIs. The emerging challenge is to realize the benefits of openness when components are subject to different copyright or property licenses. In this paper, we identify key properties of OSS licenses, present a license analysis scheme to identify license conflicts arising from composed software elements, and apply it to provide guidance for software architectural design choices whose goal is to enable specific licensed component configurations. Our scheme has been implemented in an operational environment and demonstrates a practical, automated solution to the problem of determining overall rights and obligations for alternative OAs.
Type
Technical Report
Description
Proceedings Paper (for Acquisition Research Program)
Series/Report No
Department
Acquisition Management
Other Research Faculty
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
NPS-AM-09-026
Sponsors
Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Program
Funder
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.