SoftWare Hash IDentifier
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| Full name | SoftWare Hash IDentifier |
|---|---|
| Acronym | SWHID |
| Introduced | April 2025 |
| Example | swh:1:dir:df32c75242bf8d797ccd43af8ce8e294f35cd8fd |
| Website | https://www.swhid.org/ |
The SoftWare Hash IDentifier (SWHID) is a persistent identifier used to uniquely identify a particular piece of software and its version. SWHID is a standard similar to the DOI, but is tailored specifically for software, compatible with versioning software such as git.
Creation and history
The SoftWare Hash IDentifier was developed by Software Heritage. As of 2023, it was officially released by Software Heritage and was in use for billions of versions of pieces of software, termed "artefacts".[1] In research it is integrated with repositories such as HAL or Zenodo.
The acronym SWHID originally referred to "Software Heritage Identifiers" used to catalog software artifacts in the early days of the Software Heritage archive[2]. It later evolved into an open standard through a dedicated working group[3] and was standardized as ISO in April 2025 under the more general name "Software Hash Identifier"[4]
Télécom Paris adopted SWHID, arguing that it is a significant step in global digital infrastructure, providing traceability of software affected by vulnerabilities.[5] UNESCO stated that SWHID is useful for the reproducibility and long-term accessibility of software.[6]
Standards
SWHID is an open standard licensed under the Community Specification License[7].
SWHID was formalized as the ISO 18670 standard in April 2025.[8]. SWHID is an open standard licensed under the Community Specification License[9].
Format
The SWHID has the following syntax:[1]
swh:<scheme_version>:<object_type>:<object_id>[;qualifiers]Example
Version 3.0 of the Linux kernel, released in July 2011, has the following SWHID:[citation needed]
swh:1:dir:df32c75242bf8d797ccd43af8ce8e294f35cd8fd
References
- ^ a b Axel Thévenet (26 September 2023), SWHID: Tracking past software for future humans, Wikidata Q134580517, archived from the original on 26 May 2025
- ^ "SoftWare Hash IDentifier (SWHID)". Software Heritage. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ "SWHID working group". Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ "ISO/IEC 18670:2025". ISO. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ "Une avancée significative pour l'infrastructure numérique mondiale : La norme ISO/IEC 18670 est désormais officielle". Télécom Paris (in French). Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ "Archiving open software as human heritage". UNESCO. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ "Copyright Section of SWHID Specification v1.2". Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ "ISO/IEC 18670:2025". ISO. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ "Copyright Section of SWHID Specification v1.2". Retrieved 2025-05-24.