Heterogeneously-Licensed System Requirements, Acquisition and Governance

Increasingly, software-intensive systems are being constructed from components subject to different licenses. As software reuse, component-based software development, and open source software components come into more widespread use during system development, developers and consumers are faced with a complex array of legal rights and obligations that they have difficulty tracking, yet alone comprehending. We outline aspects of this problem and an approach for managing it from the points of view of architects, analysts, acquisition managers, and regulators.