README.md

Supported Languages

clojure

• leiningen

C/C++

• C
• C++

In order to use these strategies special options must be provided to the CLI. See the linked documentation above for details.

dart

• pub

erlang

• rebar3

elixir

• mix

fortran

• fortran

go

• gomodules (go mod)
• dep
• glide

haskell

• cabal
• stack

java

• maven
• gradle

javascript/typescript

• yarn
• npm
• pnpm

nim

• Nimble

.NET

• NuGet
• Paket

objective-c

• carthage
• cocoapods

perl

• perl

php

• php

python

• conda
• requirements.txt/setup.py
• pipenv
• poetry
• pdm

r

• renv

ruby

• bundler

rust

• cargo

scala

• sbt
• gradle
• maven

swift

• carthage
• cocoapods
• swiftPM

Static and Dynamic Strategies

Languages supported by FOSSA CLI can have multiple strategies for detecting dependencies, one primary strategy that yields ideal results and zero or more fallback strategies. Within this list of strategies, we have the concept of static and dynamic strategies. Static strategies parse files to find a dependency graph (example: parse a package-lock.json file). Dynamic strategies are required when analyzing package managers that do not offer complete lockfiles, such as Gradle or Go. Dynamic strategies require a working build environment to operate in.

Running the tool with all possible strategies enabled is recommended, but if you need to limit FOSSA CLI to only use static strategies the CLI offers the --static-only-analysis flag. This flag prevents FOSSA CLI from using any third party tools, such as npm, pip, maven plugins, etc. With this option enabled, strategies that don't offer a way to analyze statically will fail with an error.

It is important to note that neither type of strategy has an inherent benefit when detecting dependencies. If a supported language has only a static or only a dynamic strategy, this does not mean it is less supported than a language that has both.

Strict Analysis

Strict analysis enforces the use of the most accurate strategy for detecting dependencies, ensuring precise and consistent results by rejecting fallback methods that may offer less reliable detection.

For example, in Maven projects, FOSSA CLI attempts analysis with the following strategy order:

1. Run the mavenplugin strategy, which provides the most accurate dependency information.
2. If that fails, it attempts the treecmd strategy, which parses the output of the mvn dependency:tree command.
3. Finally, it falls back to the pomxml strategy, scanning pom.xml files for dependencies.

However, with the --strict flag, only the mavenplugin strategy will be used. If the mavenplugin command fails, FOSSA will not attempt the treecmd or pomxml methods. This ensures that your Maven analysis relies solely on the most precise and validated strategy.

Invoke strict analysis with the --strict flag when running fossa analyze.

Strategies by type

If the FOSSA CLI is forced to utilize a fallback strategy, meaning it did not detect ideal results, a warning is emitted in the scan summary after running fossa analyze.

Language/Package Manager	Dynamic	Static	Detect Vendored Code	Primary Strategy
C#	✅	✅	❌	Dynamic
C	⚠️	⚠️	✅	None
C++	⚠️	⚠️	✅	None
Clojure (leiningen)	✅	❌	❌	Dynamic
Dart (pub)	✅	✅	❌	Dynamic
Elixer (mix)	✅	❌	❌	Dynamic
Erlang (rebar3)	✅	❌	❌	Dynamic
Fortran	❌	✅	❌	Static
Go (dep)	❌	✅	❌	Static
Go (glide)	❌	✅	❌	Static
Go (gomodules)	✅	✅	❌	Dynamic
Gradle	✅	❌	❌	Dynamic
Haskell (cabal)	✅	❌	❌	Dynamic
Haskell (stack)	✅	❌	❌	Dynamic
iOS (carthage)	❌	✅	❌	Static
iOS (cocoapods)	❌	✅	❌	Static
iOS (swift)	❌	✅	❌	Static
Maven	✅	✅	❌	Dynamic
NodeJS (NPM/Yarn/pnpm)	❌	✅	❌	Static
Perl	❌	✅	❌	Static
PHP (Composer)	❌	✅	❌	Static
Python (Conda)	✅	✅	❌	Dynamic
Python (Pipenv)	✅	✅	❌	Dynamic
Python (Poetry)	❌	✅	❌	Static
Python (Pdm)	❌	✅	❌	Static
Python (setup.py/requirements.txt)	✅	✅	❌	Dynamic
R (renv)	❌	✅	❌	Static
Ruby (bundler)	✅	✅	❌	Static
Rust (cargo)	✅	❌	❌	Dynamic
Scala (sbt)	✅	❌	❌	Dynamic

⚠️: Note that these strategies support static and dynamic detection differently than other strategies, and are not run by default. Please make sure to check their linked documentation in the table above for more details.