Investigating software artifact provenance

“出处”是一个来自艺术的术语，描述了一系列关于艺术作品历史或所有权的证据。 特定对象的来源可能包括可信的文档、材料和艺术风格的特殊目的分析以及一般历史知识。 该术语也越来越多地用于计算机安全等技术背景中，其中第三方组件的来源-通常通过加密和可信审计跟踪等机制确定-可以确定如何允许组件访问机密数据和系统的运行时环境。 然而，随着软件系统变得越来越普遍，故障、恶意软件、违反许可证和专利诉讼的风险要求我们谨慎对待各种软件实体的来源。 我们不仅要检查可执行组件，还要检查所有影响软件系统及其创建的开发工件。 我们必须问：这个类定义、库、特性、bug修复是从哪里来的？ 它是如何随着时间的推移而演变的？ 证据是什么？ 也就是说，我们必须确定艺术品的来源。

"Provenance" is a term from the arts that describes a set of evidence concerning the history or ownership of an artistic work. The provenance for a particular object may include trusted documentation, special purpose analyses of the materials and artistic styles, and general historical knowledge. Increasingly, the term is also being used in technical contexts such as in computer security, where the provenance of a third-party component -- often determined through mechanisms such as cryptography and trusted audit trails -- may determine how the component is allowed to access confidential data and the system's run-time environment. However, as software systems become more pervasive, the risk of failure, malware, license violations, and patent lawsuits requires us to be circumspect about where various kinds of software entities come from. We must examine not only executable components, but all development artifacts that impact upon the software system and its creation. We must ask: Where did this class definition, library, feature, bug fix originate? How has it evolved over time? And what is the evidence? That is, we must ascertain the artifact's provenance.