The overwhelming majority of software today contains open source code but many organizations have limited insight and understanding of how their developers are using it. This also includes issues with understanding the requirements around licensing, copyright and other aspects of intellectual property. These are vital skills to build out an effective, cost-efficient compliance program at an organization.
The OpenChain Project maintains the International Standard for open source license compliance. This allows companies of all sizes and in all sectors to adopt the key requirements of a quality open source compliance program. OpenChain has partnered with Linux Foundation Training & Certification to develop a new, free online training course, Introduction to Open Source License Compliance Management (LFC193), to communicate the basic concepts and approaches needed for an open source compliance program.
The 2 hour online course provides knowledge from the basics of intellectual property through to key concepts of an open source review. It is based on real-world experience and focuses on outcomes that are directly applicable to product and service deployment. The outcome of this course will be a clear understanding of how to use compliance as business optimization, reducing resource use and increasing efficiency.
This course was created by a collaborative effort in the OpenChain Project, which has an Education Work Group focused on developing reference materials in response to market demand. Thanks are due to Balakrishna Mukundaraj for chairing the process and acting as one of two formal authors, the other being Shane Coughlan, OpenChain General Manager. Other contributions were provided via comments by a diverse group of stakeholders.
Enrollment is open now. Those who do not already have basic knowledge of open source software, licenses and copyrights should consider first taking the free Open Source Licensing Basics for Software Developers (LFC191) course. Start improving your organization’s open source compliance today!
