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Use open standards

Open standards guarantee access to the knowledge required to use and contribute to the codebase. They enable interoperability between systems and reduce the risk of vendor lock-in. Open standards which are unambiguous allow for independent development of either side of data exchange.

Requirements

  • For features of the codebase that facilitate the exchange of data the codebase MUST use an open standard that meets the Open Source Initiative Open Standard Requirements.
  • Any non-open standards used MUST be recorded clearly as such in the documentation.
  • Any standard chosen for use within the codebase MUST be listed in the documentation with a link to where it is available.
  • Any non-open standards chosen for use within the codebase MUST NOT hinder collaboration and reuse.
  • If no existing open standard is available, effort SHOULD be put into developing one.
  • Open standards that are machine testable SHOULD be preferred over open standards that are not.
  • Non-open standards that are machine testable SHOULD be preferred over non-open standards that are not.

How to test

  • Confirm that data exchange follows an OSI approved open standard.
  • Confirm that any non-open standards used are clearly documented as such.
  • Confirm that documentation includes a list of the standards followed within the codebase, each with a working link, or a statement that no standards were chosen.

Public policy makers: what you need to do

  • Mandate use of open standards everywhere possible.
  • Prohibit procurement of technology that does not use open standards.

Managers: what you need to do

  • Consider including open standard compliance assessment in source code reviews.

Developers and designers: what you need to do

  • Add continuous integration tests for compliance with the standards.
  • Review the commits and other repository resources for references to standards and cross-check those with the standards listed.

Further reading