About the OVAL Repository

The OVAL Repository is the central meeting place for the OVAL Community to discuss, analyze, store, and disseminate OVAL Definitions, which are standardized, machine-readable tests written in the OVAL Language. Other Repositories in the community also host OVAL content, which can include OVAL System Characteristics files and OVAL Results files as well as definitions.

The documents below explain the OVAL Repository in more detail.

OVAL Repository Overview

Provides an overview of the OVAL Repository, explains how the community participates by writing and submitting OVAL Definitions, and provides a link to the OVAL Repository’s "Statement of CVE Compatibility."

OVAL Forum Discussion Archives

Archive of community discussions regarding new and previously posted OVAL Repository content.

OVAL Definition Lifecycle

Details the seven stages of the process for creating release versions of OVAL Definitions.

Writing an OVAL Definition

Instructions for writing OVAL Definitions in the OVAL Language.

Authoring Style Guide

A living document detailing the stylistic decisions that have been made for OVAL Language content including definitions, tests, objects, states, and variables.

Submission Guidelines

Guidelines for submitting OVAL vulnerability, compliance, inventory, and patch definitions to the OVAL Repository.

Top Contributor Awards

The OVAL Repository Top Contributor Award Program grants awards on a quarterly basis to the top contributors to the OVAL Repository. Awards are posted for the current year as well as for past years.

Other Repositories of OVAL Content

Descriptions of and links to other known publicly accessible OVAL repositories.

Page Last Updated: August 27, 2009