OVAL Interpreter
Learn more about organizations that provide OVAL content and tools or otherwise support the OVAL Language — and products that incorporate OVAL — in the OVAL Adoption Program section.
The OVAL Interpreter is a freely available reference implementation that demonstrates the evaluation of OVAL Definitions. Based on a set of Definitions the Interpreter collects system information, evaluates it, and generates a detailed OVAL Results file. It has been developed to demonstrate the usability of OVAL Definitions and to ensure correct syntax and adherence to the OVAL Schemas by definition writers.
IMPORTANT: Please note that the OVAL Interpreter is not an enterprise scanning tool; it is a simplistic, command-line interface that has the ability to execute OVAL Content on an end system.
License
The OVAL Interpreter, which is free to download and use, is licensed under a BSD license.
Use Cases
The following use cases are what drives the existence and continuing development of the OVAL Interpreter:
- Reference Implementation of the OVAL Language — In order to drive the adoption of the OVAL Language, the Interpreter code is made freely available as a reference for implementers of the Language.
- Language Quality Control — As the OVAL Language is modified and driven forward, the Interpreter is used as a way to check that the changes to the Language are correct and implementable.
- Content Testing — OVAL Content Authors can use the Interpreter to execute content they create to confirm its correctness.
- NIST Validation Program — The OVAL Interpreter is used as part of NIST’s Validation Program.
- Educational Tool — For those that are starting out with the OVAL Language, the Interpreter can serve as a quick way to execute OVAL Content on the student’s end system to get a "real-world-like" experience with the Language.
Hosted on SourceForge.net
The OVAL Interpreter, which is hosted on SouceForge.net, includes the following:
- Bug and Feature Request Tracking – enter and track bugs, bug fixes, and new feature requests
- File Distribution – for all OVAL Interpreter downloads, including source code
- SVN Repository – anonymous, read-only access
- Wiki — the primary source for information about the OVAL Interpreter
- Help Forum — for all Interpreter-related email help requests
Go to the OVAL Interpreter on SourceForge.
Page Last Updated: November 01, 2012
