License Scanning

AquilaX License Scanning Compliance Process

This documentation describes the AquilaX compliance process for detecting and handling license mismatching violations in software projects. The process is powered by the AquilaX GenAI Application Security Platform, leveraging AI to ensure comprehensive and efficient license compliance.

Objective

To automate and streamline license scanning using AquilaX's platform, identifying mismatched or incompatible licenses across all project dependencies to ensure compliance with organizational and legal standards.

Process Overview

1. Initialization

The license scanning module in AquilaX begins by integrating with your project's repository, extracting all declared and transitive dependencies, and identifying associated licenses.

2. License Policy Definition

AquilaX allows organizations to define license compliance policies, which include:

• Approved licenses (e.g., MIT, Apache 2.0).

• Restricted or incompatible licenses (e.g., AGPL, proprietary licenses).

• Exceptions based on use cases or environments.

3. Scanning Process

The scanning process includes:

1. Dependency Detection: Parsing dependency manifests (e.g., package.json, pom.xml, requirements.txt) and lockfiles.

2. License Identification: Mapping dependencies to their respective licenses via SPDX metadata or project-specific files.

3. Policy Matching: Comparing each dependency license against the defined compliance policy.

4. Violation Reporting: Flagging mismatched licenses and providing detailed violation reports.

4. Remediation

AquilaX provides:

• Suggested remediation steps for replacing non-compliant libraries.

• Automated license override workflows where applicable.