Add support for parsing CITATION.cff metadata files #4728
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Moved free-unknown_88.RULE to inactive directory as it was causing false positives when scanning casual documentation that mentions 'open source license'. This resolves issue aboutcode-org#4221 where ts-jest README was incorrectly flagged with LicenseRef-scancode-free-unknown. The rule matched only 3 words ('open source license') with low relevance (50), making it too broad and triggering on non-licensing contexts. Added test case to prevent regression: - tests/licensedcode/data/datadriven/unknown/ts-jest-no-false-positive.md - tests/licensedcode/data/datadriven/unknown/ts-jest-no-false-positive.md.yml Fixes: aboutcode-org#4221 Signed-off-by: Aliasghar Jawadwala <sharksurfauto@gmail.com>
Implements parser for CITATION.cff files used for software citation metadata. Supports CFF spec versions 1.0.0+ with best-effort extraction. Key features: - PyYAML-based parsing with silent error handling - Comprehensive author format support (family/given, name-only, ORCID) - Field mappings: license→extracted_license_statement, etc. - Package type: generic (citation metadata, not ecosystem-specific) - Backward compatible with older CFF versions Test suite includes 8 tests covering: file recognition, minimal/full parsing, multiple author formats, error handling, and backward compatibility. Fixes aboutcode-org#3580 Signed-off-by: Aliasghar Jawadwala <sharksurfauto@gmail.com>
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Summary
Implements parser for CITATION.cff files used for software citation metadata. Supports CFF spec versions 1.0.0+ with best-effort extraction.
Changes
Key Features
cff-versionis required, all other fields optionalgeneric(citation metadata ≠ ecosystem-specific packages)Design Decisions
Why package type
generic?CFF describes citation metadata, not distributable artifacts. A CFF file can describe software, datasets, papers, or other citable objects. The
type: softwarefield in CFF ≠ package ecosystem (npm, pypi, etc.). Usinggenericavoids misleading over-inference.Why
extracted_license_statementnotdeclared_license_expression?CFF license field may be free-form text or non-SPDX identifiers. Using
extracted_license_statementallows ScanCode's license detection to normalize later, following best-effort extraction principles.Why only
cff-versionis required?Per CFF specification,
cff-versionis the only strictly required field. Other fields (message,authors,title) are recommended but context-dependent. This aligns with both the spec and ScanCode's philosophy.Test Coverage
Fixes Add support for citation file format #3580