‘Open source hardware’ no longer vague, as DIN pins down the definition

This should mean an end to ‘open-washing’ – marketing partially or completely closed-source hardware as ‘open-source’.

The definition is laid down in document ‘DIN Spec 3105 Open source hardware’, which has been written in English.

Its creation builds on ‘Open source hardware definition 1.0’, a document that has been hosted by the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) for several years.

“Open source hardware definition 1.0 has some pretty vague definition. It leaves doors open for open-washing,” Jérémy Bonvoisin, co-author of both documents, told Electronics Weekly. “DIN Spec 3105 states the requirements clearly. It will help the open-source hardware community build a stronger identity that can be trusted by external stake-holders.”

That said, Bonvoisin did describe the DIN Spec as “pretty dry”, and a working group is creating explanatory guidelines to be read alongside the DIN Spec – accompanying guidelines are not uncommon alongside UK law and EU Directives when the main text is highly legal.
UPDATE, this explanatory document can now be found through here.

DIN Spec 3105 is unusual amongst DIN documents in that it was itself created using open-source guidelines.

For example, it can be downloaded free: in document form under a under a Creative Commons attribution share-alike license from DIN’s ‘Beuth Verlag’ outlet (although registration is required) or from a community repository on GitLab.

Also, according to an associated FAQ, also hosted on GitLab: the DIN Spec “defines a community-based certification procedure where hardware device can get certified as ‘open source hardware according to DIN Spec 3105’ without engaging costly audits or certification fees. Products can get certified by reviewers from the open-source hardware community in a transparent and public process.”

Community-based assessment is described in Part 2 of the DIN Spec ‘Open Source Hardware – Community-based assessment’. Part 1, ‘Open Source Hardware – Requirements for documentation’ defines open source hardware and sets out documentation requirements for such hardware.

The hands behind DIN Spec 3105 were, according to the same FAQ “a formal consortium of 21 people from the open-source hardware community as well more than 50 members of the mailing list. More than 25 institutions were represented, mostly from the EU, the US, but also Latin America. This core maintained sustained interaction with relevant members of the open-source hardware community to discuss drafts and concepts to be included in the document.”

DIN’s official outlet for DIN Spec 3105 is here

The community version of DIN Spec 3015 is in this GitLab repository

The GitLab DIN Spec 3105 FAQ is here, and is well worth reading