Is it GPL if it quacks like a Duck?

Oct. 16, 2007

Licensing has always been an issue but the advent of open source licenses such as GPL and BSD can cause headaches for managers and corporate VPs if the rules are not followed.

William G. Wong

Licensing has always been an issue but the advent of open source licenses such as GPL and BSD can cause headaches for managers and corporate VPs if the rules are not followed. Knowing what is and is not in a product is therefore a very useful feature and one that Black Duck Software’s ProtexIP can handle. ProtexIP is designed to identify the kinds of license associated with code used in an application. This can reduce business risks of using proprietary software when it is not desirable as well as identifying open source software that may have impact on proprietary software of a company’s software. The system uses a static analysis that can be incorporated into the build environment. It automates detection of source and object code and provides reports that highlight possible combinations that a designer may not prefer. The system is easy to use although setting it up to identify code developed locally can be a little more involved than using Black Duck’s built-in database. Related Links Black Duck Software

About the Author

William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

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I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.

I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence.