Creating a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM)

A Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) is a comprehensive list of the component parts required to build your project. This can include any open source libraries, plugins, extensions, and system packages. You can create an immutable SBOM for any project or any commit in a project.

An SBOM for your ActiveState project will record what is in your runtime, where it came from, and all the information you need to maintain a secure and safe development environment.

How to generate an SBOM

SBOMs at ActiveState follow the SPDX2.2 specification and are available in JSON and SPDX formats.

To generate a JSON format of your SBOM open a GraphQL query and replace the information in the angled brackets with your project’s information:

{
  sbom(org:"<org name>"
    , name:"<project name>", 
    commit_id:"<commit ID (optional)>")
  {
    __typename
    ...on SBOM {
      author
      timestamp
      spdxUri
      components{
        name
        version
        supplier
        checksum
        license
        relationship
      }
    }	
  }
}

Be sure to include the spdxUri variable in your query, as that will return the needed URL for your SPDX format (outlined below).

Clicking the triangular “play” button in the GraphQL UI will execute the command and return your SBOM in a JSON format.

Convert your JSON to an SPDX

To convert your SBOM from a JSON to SPDX format, you will need to generate a new JSON Web Token (JWT).

Using the State tool, run state export jwt to generate a new JWT. You can also generate a new JWT directly from the ActiveState API.

(Invoke-WebRequest -URI https://platform.activestate.com/sv/mediator/download/spdx/<orgname>/<projectname>/<commitID> -HEADERS @{"Authorization" = "Bearer <state export jwt>"}).CONTENT

curl https://dl.activestate.com/spdx/<orgname>/<projectname>/<commitID> -H "Authorization: Bearer $<state export jwt>"

This command will return an SPDX version of your SBOM that is machine-readable and will contain the following information at a project level:

• SPDXVersion number for the document
• Data license
• SPDXID for the project to refer to itself in relation to other elements
• Project name (seen as “DocumentName”)
• A download location for the project
• The name of the organization that created the SBOM
• Date and time of the SBOM data assembly

And the following information at the package or component level:

• Package name
• Specific SPDXID used to reference throughout the document. Scrolling to the end of the document will show package relationships using the SPDXID for reference
• Package version
• Package download location
• SHA-256 checksum
• Package license or copyright information (if the information is found but cannot be verified, NOASSERTION will be shown)

SPDXVersion: SPDX-2.2
DataLicense: CC0-1.0
SPDXID: SPDXRef-DOCUMENT
DocumentName: APEE-534-Microsoft-Rlc-NoPMC-Athnticode
DocumentNamespace: https://platform.activestate.com/download/spdx/ActiveStateBE/APEE-534-Microsoft-Rlc-NoPMC-Athnticode/e73ad540-0072-4d50-845a-03844c0a74fe
Creator: Organization: ActiveState
Created: 2022-06-02T22:31:01Z

PackageName: perl
SPDXID: SPDXRef-perl
PackageVersion: 5.34.0
PackageDownloadLocation: https://dl.activestate.com/source/ed4b2154-eaee-5fba-88bb-d1eca86b1206/versions/0fbbfdd6-68e5-5f06-86ce-b03395e79c54/revisions/5/perl-5.34.0.tar.gz
FilesAnalyzed: false
PackageChecksum: SHA256: 551efc818b968b05216024fb0b727ef2ad4c100f8cb6b43fab615fa78ae5be9a
PackageLicenseConcluded:  GPL-1.0-or-later
PackageLicenseConcluded: Artistic-1.0-Perl
PackageLicenseDeclared: NOASSERTION
PackageLicenseInfoFromFiles:  GPL-1.0-or-later
PackageLicenseInfoFromFiles: Artistic-1.0-Perl
PackageCopyrightText: NOASSERTION

You can use the information in your SBOM as part of an effective strategy to mitigate software vulnerabilities, assure your runtime is secure and up to date, and in compliance with provided specifications and/or governmental standards. For more information about SBOMs and why they are important to your project see our datasheet on Open Source Security With A Bill of Materials