OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TOOLS

• US 20150143328A1
• Filed: 11/10/2014
• Published: 05/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rogue Wave Software Incorporated (Perforce Software Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: OpenLogic, Inc. (Perforce Software Incorporated)
• Inventors: Cope, Rod
• Granted Patent: US 9,311,613 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/75 Structural analysis for program understanding
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management

Abstract

Various tools for use in connection with software projects that may contain open-source software code therein. The tools may include systems and methods for improving results regarding scans of the software projects based on insight data obtained from at least one user'"'"'s analysis of the results of a previous scan. The systems and methods may also include an application-specific collaboration tool.

Claims

1. A method of analyzing a software project containing at least one open source software portion by a computer-implemented scanning tool, the method comprising:

receiving, at a processor of the scanning tool, a project file corresponding to the software project, wherein the project file comprises at least one open source software portion;

scanning the project file to identify the at least one open source software portion in relation to a plurality of known open source software portions;

generating, by the processor, a scan result in response to the scanning, wherein the scan result comprises at least one ambiguous result corresponding to a plurality of potential options identified by the processor for an association between the project file and the plurality of known open-source software portions; and

presenting to a user at a user interface of the scanning tool the scan result in relation to insight data based at least in part on responses to ambiguous results received in relation to previous scan results.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the ambiguous result comprises a plurality of potential options regarding the identity of the at least one open source software portion.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the ambiguous result comprises a plurality of potential options regarding applicability of a license to the at least one open source software portion.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the applicability of the license to the at least one open source software depends at least in part on one or more selected from the group consisting of:

usage of the project file, modification of the at least one open source software portion, or distribution of the project file.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the responses to ambiguous results received in relation to previous scans correspond to subjective decisions made by prior users in relation to previous ambiguous results.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the presenting is at least partially based on the similarity of the ambiguous results relative to the previous ambiguous results relating to prior scans of prior project files.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the similarity of the ambiguous results relative to the previous ambiguous results is at least partially based on at least one of a file name, a file path, a checksum, contents, transformed contents, or partial contents of the project file in relation to the prior project files.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the similarity of the ambiguous results relative to the previous ambiguous results is used to weight the insight data in the presenting.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting comprises displaying the plurality of potential options with at least one of highlighting visually at least one of the plurality of potential options based on the insight data or placing at least one of the plurality potential option higher in a listing of the plurality of potential options.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting comprises automatically selecting the most likely option from the plurality of options based on the insight data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the automatically selecting comprises implementation of a policy regarding selection a top option in a listing of the plurality of options;

selecting an option that has been chosen most often in the past;

or selecting an option chosen most often by users, projects, companies, or companies in industries similarly situated to the software project.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting comprises considering the quality of the insight data in relation to the scan result.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a quality of the insight data is at least partially determined based on a company of the user, a size of the company of the user, an industry of the company of the user, previous experience of the user with the tool, previous experience of the user in the industry of the company of the user, quality of previous inputs of the user as rated by other users, or a rate of concurrence of the user relative to other users.

14. A method for use in generating insight data in relation to results of a computer-implemented scanning tool corresponding to at least one open-source software portion in a software project, the method comprising:

receiving, at a processor of the computer-implemented scanning tool, a project file corresponding to the software project, wherein the project file comprises at least one open source software portion;

producing, by the processor, a scan result, wherein the scan result comprises at least one ambiguous result corresponding to a plurality of potential options identified by the processor for an association between the project file and the plurality of known open source software portions; and

receiving, at a user interface of the computer-implemented scanning tool, an input from a human user in connection with selection, by the human user, of at least one of the plurality of options to indicate a positive association between the at least one open source software portion and a corresponding one of the plurality of known open source software portions;

generating insight data regarding the at least one ambiguous result at least partially in response to the input from the human user.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the ambiguous result comprises a plurality of potential options regarding the identity of the at least one open source software portion.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the ambiguous result comprises a plurality of potential options regarding applicability of a license to the at least one open source software portion.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the applicability of the license to the at least one open source software depends at least in part on one or more of usage of the project file, modification of the at least one open source software portion, or distribution of the project file.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the selection of at least one of the plurality of options corresponds to a subjective decision made by the human user in relation to the at least one ambiguous result.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the generating comprises associating a quality of the insight data in relation to the scan result.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the quality of the insight data is at least partially determined based on a company of the user, a size of the company of the user, an industry of the company of the user, previous experience of the user with the tool, previous experience of the user in the industry of the company of the user, quality of previous inputs of the user as rated by other users, or a rate of concurrence of the user relative to other users.

26. The method of claim 15, wherein the second remote client is free from an a priori configuration in relation to the first application-specific data.

21. A method for use in analyzing a software project comprising at least one open source software portion using a computer-implemented scanning tool, the method comprising:

first receiving, at a processor of the computer-implemented scanning tool, a first project file corresponding to a first software project, wherein the first project file comprises at least one open source software portion;

first producing, by the processor, a first scan result, wherein the first scan result comprises a first plurality of potential associations, identified by the processor, between the at least one open source software portion of the first software project and a plurality of known open source software portions, and wherein the first plurality of potential associations comprise at least one ambiguous result; and

receiving, at a user interface of the computer-implemented scanning tool, an input from a human user in connection with selection, by the human user, of at least one of the plurality of first associations to indicate a positive association between the at least one open source software portion of the first software project and a corresponding one of the plurality of known open source software portions;

generating insight data regarding the at least one ambiguous result at least partially in response to the input from the human user;

second receiving, at a processor of the computer-implemented scanning tool, a second project file corresponding to a second software project, wherein the second project file comprises at least one open source software portion;

second producing, by the processor, a second scan result, wherein the second scan result comprises a second plurality of potential associations, identified by the processor, between the at least one open source software portion of the second software project and a plurality of known open source software portions; and

presenting to a user at a user interface of the scanning tool the second scan result in relation to the insight data.

22. A computer-implemented scanning tool, comprising:

an insight data collection and utilization module, executed by a processor of the computer-implemented scanning tool, that is operative to receive, at a user interface of the computer-implemented scanning tool, an input from a human user in connection with selection, by the human user, of at least one of the plurality of associations to indicate a positive association between the at least one open source software portion and a corresponding one of the plurality of known open source software portions and generate insight data regarding the at least one ambiguous result at least partially in response to the input from the human user;

wherein the insight data is presented to a human user at a user interface of the scanning tool in relation to a scan result.

23. A method of for use in collaboratively evaluating a software project containing at least one open source software portion, the method comprising:

receiving, at a central server, first application-specific data from a first remote client, wherein the first application-specific data is at least partially obtained in response to a first input received from a first user of the first remote client corresponding to an analysis of a software project with respect to characteristics of at least one open source software portion open-source software portion associated with the software project, wherein the first application-specific data is substantially free from graphics overhead data; and

transmitting, from the central server, the application-specific data to a second remote client, wherein the first remote client and the second remote client are linked over a bidirectional operative communication channel with the central server over one or more networks.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

receiving, at the central server, second application-specific data from the second remote client, wherein the second application-specific data is at least partially obtained in response to a second input received from a second user of the second remote client corresponding to an analysis of the software project with respect to the characteristics of the at least one open-source portion associated with the software project, wherein the second application-specific data is substantially free from graphics overhead data; and

transmitting, from the central server, the second application-specific data to the first remote client.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

configuring the first application-specific data such that the first application-specific data is transmittable through a firewall of a remote client, and wherein the second remote client includes the firewall.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein the transmitting is at least partially based on a credential associated with a second user of the second remote client.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the transmitting comprises cryptographically manipulating the configured first application-specific data such that the bidirectional operative communication channel provides a secure data connection between the central server and the second remote client.

27. The method of claim 27, wherein the first application-specific data is at least partially based on an application-specific message, wherein the application-specific message is obtained in response to an input received from the first user of the remote client corresponding to a communication event.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the communication event is associated with a link operable to direct a second user of the second remote client to at least of one of the plurality of characteristics associated with the open-source software code.

31. A system for in collaborative evaluation of a software project containing at least one open source software portion, the system comprising:

a first remote client operative to generate first application-specific data, wherein the first application-specific data is at least partially obtained in response to a first input received at a first graphical user interface of the first client from a first user of the first remote client corresponding to an analysis of a software project with respect to characteristics of at least one open source software portion open-source software portion associated with the software project, wherein the first application-specific data is substantially free from graphics overhead data related to the first graphical user interface;

a central server in operative communication with the first remote client to receive the first application specific data from the first remote client; and

a second remote client operative to receive from the central server the first application-specific and generate a second graphical user interface at least in part on the first application-specific data.

32-43. -43. (canceled)