A policy statement on open-source software from the White House

The White House has announced a draft policy addressing how the U.S. federal government will share and release custom software. "This policy requires that, among other things: (1) new custom code whose development is paid for by the Federal Government be made available for reuse across Federal agencies; and (2) a portion of that new custom code be released to the public as Open Source Software (OSS)."

The full policy document is available at sourcecode.cio.gov, where it has been made available for public comment. The relevant passage regarding public source releases begins by outlining a pilot program. "Each covered agency shall release at least 20 percent of its newly-developed custom code each year as OSS. Custom code is defined as code for all custom software projects, modules, and add-ons that are self-contained. [...] Although the minimum requirement for OSS release is 20 percent of custom code, covered agencies are strongly encouraged to publish as much custom-developed code as possible to further the Federal Government's commitment to transparency, participation, and collaboration."