A significant step forward for the global digital infrastructure: ISO/IEC 18670 is now official
20 May 2025
Image source Software Heritage
This standard enables unique, persistent and verifiable identification of software artefacts (source files, revisions, versions, etc.) using content-based identifiers, independently of any version control system or platform.
This standard follows a recent publication by Olivier Barais, Roberto Di Cosmo, Ludovic Mé, Stefano Zacchiroli and Olivier Zendra:
Software Identification for Cybersecurity: Survey and Recommendations for Regulators
Why is this important?
- For open and reproducible science, by enabling reliable citation of software;
- For the preservation of digital heritage, by ensuring the traceability and integrity of code;
- For global interoperability, by enabling large-scale archiving and exchange of software artefacts;
- Trace software artefacts impacted by vulnerabilities, and enable them to be corrected quicklier.
Congratulations to the entire Software Heritage team and all the contributors, in particular Stefano Zacchiroli (Télécom Paris), Roberto Di Cosmo (Inria), and Alexios Zavras (Intel) for this historic standardisation effort!
A decisive step towards a more sustainable, responsible and trustworthy digital future.
Key words: #SoftwareHeritage #SWHID #ISO18670 #DigitalPreservation #Interoperability #OpenScience