SPDX

Technology & Computing abbreviation · Software

SPDX
Stands forSoftware Package Data Exchange
CategoriesTechnology & Computing

SPDX stands for Software Package Data Exchange, a software abbreviation.

Open standard, maintained by the Linux Foundation, for describing software components, their licenses and copyrights in machine-readable form. Its short license identifiers, such as MIT or GPL-2.0-only, appear in source files and package manifests.

Example: Each source file starts with an SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 comment.

Usage notes

SPDX began in 2010 and became the international standard ISO/IEC 5962 in 2021. It is one of the main formats for software bills of materials (SBOMs), which a 2021 US executive order pushed into federal software procurement. The SPDX license list contains several hundred identifiers. Pronounced as letters.

More software abbreviations

  • RC – Release candidate
  • ROM – ROM image
  • RPM – RPM Package Manager
  • RTM – Release to manufacturing
  • SCCM – System Center Configuration Manager
  • SP – Service pack
  • SSPL – Server Side Public License
  • SW – Software
  • UWP – Universal Windows Platform
  • VAR – Value-added reseller
  • VLC – VideoLAN Client
  • VST – Virtual Studio Technology

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