componentspolicy

Componentspolicy is a governance framework that governs the selection, use, and management of software components within an organization or project. It establishes rules for sourcing, licensing, provenance, versioning, security, and maintenance of components such as libraries, modules, plugins, and containers. The policy aims to reduce risk from third-party components and to promote reproducibility and compliance.

Scope includes software development teams, procurement, security, and legal compliance. It covers open-source, commercial, and in-house components, including dependencies, runtime containers, and reusable assets. Excludes internal code that is fully authored and owned.

Key elements typically include an inventory of components; approved repositories and registries; licensing requirements (permissive, copyleft, commercial); provenance and SBOM requirements; vulnerability management and patching timelines; versioning and compatibility constraints; usage rules (prohibited licenses, redistribution rights); build and deployment controls; deprecation and end-of-life processes.

Lifecycle processes generally encompass discovery and inventory; approval workflow; integration and deployment; monitoring and vulnerability scanning; remediation; retirement and replacement. Tools commonly associated with componentspolicy include software bill of materials generation (SBOM), license compliance scanners, vulnerability scanners, and component catalogs. Standards such as SPDX, CycloneDX, and OWASP ASVS may be referenced for licenses, SBOMs, and security planning.

Governance aspects define roles and responsibilities; risk assessment; audits and reporting; documentation; training and awareness; consequences for non-compliance; and review cadence. The policy often interacts with broader software supply chain security, software composition analysis (SCA), and procurement policies.

Real-world implementations typically require defined license acceptance criteria, SBOM generation for releases, and enforcement of remediation for critical vulnerabilities.