Open Source Policy

Over the years enterprise-level consumption of open source has seen an exponential increase, open source policies now must be put in place to maximize the impact and benefit of using open source, and to ensure that any technical, legal, or business risks resulting from that usage are properly mitigated.

Few examples of inadvertent usage of open source –

• Developers when tasked to write code may end up using open source that they don’t declare to their superiors.
• At times, when code is being checked-in by a member of the development team – there is always an outside chance that someone actually induced open source code and because of not wanting to get ‘caught’ for plagiarism.
• Even when there is an approval process in place for open source, approved components may not be consumed in the fashion they were given the approval for.
• Suppliers may end-up delivering code that has undeclared open source in it.
• When contributing back to open source projects, there’s always chance of contributing more than what was approved as contribution resulting in loss of Intellectual Property (IP).
• With undeclared open source or unknown code within the codebase there’s always going to be a security threat looming large.

An effective open source policy encompasses rules for utilization and management of open source software within the business.

Our workshops provide training and leadership to formulate a tailor-made policy employing best practices to fit your enterprise’s unique needs.