SoftWare Hash IDentifier
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WARNING: Draft:SoftWare Hash IDentifier is 2,401 bytes. This may be a "copy and paste" move. To avoid losing the edit history, administrators should consider merging the history of the AfC draft into this article. Non-administrators should consider placing {{Histmerge|Draft:SoftWare Hash IDentifier}} at the top of this article before removing this AfC submission template. Reviewer tools: Inform author |
Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest policy, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. AbcSxyZ (talk) 16:33, 25 May 2025 (UTC)
| Full name | SoftWare Hash IDentifier |
|---|---|
| Acronym | SWHID |
| 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 source code and its version. SWHID is a standard similar to the DOI, but is tailored specifically for software source code,[1] compatible with versioning software such as git.
An SWHID can be used to point to different components or versions of the source code of a software package.[1]
Creation and history
The SoftWare Hash IDentifier was developed by Software Heritage. Software Heritage's archives, identified by their SWHIDs, were publicly released starting in 2018.[2]
As of 2020[update], SWHIDs were in use for about nine billion versions of pieces of software,[2] termed "artefacts".[3] SWHIDs are integrated with research repositories including HAL, Zenodo and the French catalog of Academic Research Free Software.[citation needed]
The acronym SWHID originally referred to "Software Heritage Identifiers" used to catalog software artifacts in the early days of the Software Heritage archive[4]. It later evolved into an open standard through a dedicated working group[5] and was standardized as ISO in April 2025 under the more general name "Software Hash Identifier"[6]
Télécom Paris welcomed the ISO normalization arguing that it is a significant step in global digital infrastructure, providing traceability of software affected by vulnerabilities.[7] UNESCO stated that SWHID is useful for the reproducibility and long-term accessibility of software.[8]
Standards
SWHID is an open standard licensed under the Community Specification License[9].
SWHID was formalized as the ISO 18670 standard in April 2025[10].
Format
The SWHID allows identifying different components of software source code. Object types relating to the software version are labelled as "snapshot", "release" or "revision"; a "directory" of files and possibly subdirectories can be identified; and a specific piece of a specific version of source code can be labelled as "content".[1] The identifier has the following syntax:[3]
swh:<scheme_version>:<object_type>:<object_id>[;qualifiers]Example
Version 3.0 of the Linux kernel, released in July 2011, has the following SWHID[11]:
swh:1:dir:df32c75242bf8d797ccd43af8ce8e294f35cd8fd
References
- ^ a b c Sabrina Granger; Baptiste Mélès; Frédéric Santos (15 November 2024), Préserver et rendre identifiables les logiciels de recherche avec Software Heritage [Preserving and identifying research software with Software Heritage] (in French), doi:10.46430/PHFR0034, Wikidata Q134581061, archived from the original on 26 May 2025
- ^ a b Le CNRS apporte son soutien à Software Heritage [The CNRS supports Software Heritage] (in French), French National Centre for Scientific Research, 25 November 2020, Wikidata Q134581205, archived from the original on 26 May 2025
- ^ 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 [A significant advance for global digital infrastructure: the ISO/IEC 18670 standard is now official] (in French), Télécom Paris, 20 May 2025, Wikidata Q134580605, archived from the original on 26 May 2025
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Release v3.0 of torvalds/linux repository". Software Heritage. Retrieved 2025-05-24.