FOSSology
FOSSology is an open source license compliance software system and toolkit. It helps organizations comply with free and open source software licenses by providing features like automated scanning, manual verification, copyright detection and license identification.
license-compliance
scanning
copyright-detection
FOSSology: Open Source License Compliance Software
Automate your compliance with free and open source software licenses using FOSSology, a comprehensive toolkit for automated scanning, manual verification, copyright detection, and license identification.
What is FOSSology?
FOSSology is a free and open source software tool designed to help organizations comply with the licenses of free and open source software they use. It provides a combination of automatic and manual tools for scanning source code, identifying licenses and copyrights, and tracking obligations and compliance issues.
Key features of FOSSology include:
- Automated scanning of source code archives to detect licenses, copyrights and dependencies
- Web-based interface for uploading code, configuring scans and browsing results
- Utilities for manually verifying automated scan results
- Integration with SPDX for standardizing license expressions
- Copyright detection using pattern matching and comment analysis
- Interfaces for exporting scan reports and license findings
- Role-based access control for users and groups
- APIs for integrating with other systems
FOSSology helps organizations by simplifying license compliance processes that might otherwise require extensive manual audits. By combining automated scanning with a system for human review, FOSSology provides efficient and accountable license analysis capabilities. The project is under active development by a community of open source contributors.
FOSSology Features
Features
- Scans source code to detect licenses and copyrights
- Provides both automated scanning and manual verification of licenses
- Identifies licenses and highlights any conflicts or compliance issues
- Integrates with existing build tools and continuous integration pipelines
- Generates detailed reports on license usage and obligations
- Web UI and REST API for integration into other systems
- Plugin architecture to extend functionality
- Built-in copyright detection using pattern matching
- Supports SPDX license identifiers
Pricing
- Open Source
Pros
Automates and simplifies open source license compliance
Free and open source software
Customizable through plugins
Integrates into existing workflows
Large license database with SPDX support
Helps ensure license obligations are met
Reduces legal risks associated with open source usage
Cons
Requires some setup and configuration
Scanning can be slow for large codebases
Limited native integrations with proprietary tools
Additional work needed to track licenses manually added to code
Functionality focused on license compliance, not broader governance
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