OPEN SOURCE APPROACH

The open-source approach is fundamental for achieving the overall objectives of the PREFORMA challenge. This approach implies that:

​all software developed in the PREFORMA project will be released using established open source development practices with early and frequent releases of developed software and associated artefacts,

​all software developed in the PREFORMA project is licensed under “GPL v3 or later” and “MPL v2 or later”, enabling that anyone that has adopted such software has the right to freely read, use, improve and redistribute the source code for such software,

​all software developed in the PREFORMA project will be made available on an open platform, e.g. GitHub or equivalent,

​all file formats researched in the PREFORMA project will be available under licensing conditions that allow for implementation in open-source software, including allowing for implementation in open source software which is licensed under “GPLv3 or later” and “MPLv2 or later”,

​all files produced in the PREFORMA project will be released under the open access license Creative Commons CC-BY v4.0 and in open file formats, i.e. an open standard as defined in the European Interoperability Framework for Pan-European eGovernment Service (version 1.0 2004).

This open-source approach ensures that memory institutions will always have access to the required tools for deploying a long-term sustainable preservation workflow, supported and maintained by the associated ecosystems.