Black Duck Software is readying a new version of its software license compliance management suite. ProtexIP 4.0, expected in November, will implement a more visual, more responsive UI, along with search engine improvements and a new SDK (software development kit) for easier integration with enterprise… applications, according to the company.

ProtexIP targets Linux device developers and other commercial open-source software users. Black Duck says the product can be used by developers, attorneys, and managers to avoid licensing complications when capitalizing on component-based software development.

ProtexIP 4.0 features a re-written user interface said to offer greater responsiveness, especially when navigating large code bases, thanks to the use of AJAX (asynchronous JavaScript and XML).

Screenshots from ProtexIP 4.0
(Click to enlarge)
Other new interface features include:

• A “visual representation” of the compliance management process, including “project management,” “code identification,” “component review,” and “approval and reporting;” the steps are said to be based on best practices in use at customer sites
• Executive Dashboard — Shows status for all development project compliance reviews
• Bill of Materials (shown in screenshots above) — Summarizes components included in the project, their licenses, the approval status of each component, and whether the use of the component causes a company or license policy violation
• Code navigator — Shows all project code, and can be used to highlight apparent open source code code of unknown provenance, and code containing policy violations
• Obligation fulfillment checklist — Lists project-wide license obligations, and can be extended with customer-specific compliance checks

Touted non-interface improvements and features include:

• Support for larger projects
• Continously growing KnowledgeBase of open source projects
• “Precision” filtering technology surfaces relevant matches from within pool of raw matches
• Dependency analysis to identify components such as libraries that may be missing from a project's BOM
• Archive analysis extracts complete source archives, in search of reused components within zip files, JARs, etc
• SDK supports integration with existing systems

Availability

ProtexIP/development 4.0 will ship in mid-November, direct from Black Duck and its authorized resellers, the company says. Annual subscriptions start at about $10,000, with pricing based on the number of users and the size of the managed code base. The SDK is priced at $10,000.

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