Reproducible Builds

Reproducible builds are a set of software development practices that create an independently-verifiable path from source to binary code. (Find out more)

Why Reproducible Builds Matter

In short: Reproducible Builds provide certainty that software is genuine and has not been tampered with.

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Security & Trust

Reproducible Builds let third parties make sure that software hasn’t been altered, increasing safety and reliability.

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Transparency in Development

Reproducible Builds make sure that developers’ code always works the same way, which makes the software more consistent and trustworthy.

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Protection of Build Infrastructure

Attacks on build systems and supply chains can affect many users. Reproducible builds detect unauthorized changes to the build process early.

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Regulatory Compliance & Licensing

Reproducible Builds ensure software complies with licenses and industry standards by proving that binaries match their source code.

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Increased Resilience Against Attacks

Reproducible Builds protect developers from targeted attacks by allowing third-party verification of their software, preventing your projects from being compromised.

Reproducible Builds and You

End User

Reproducible Builds ensure that the software you trust is both safe and verifiable. They do this by verifying that the binaries that you download match the original, untampered source code. For security-related tools, this means high confidence that your data and communications are protected against hidden backdoors or vulnerabilities.

When choosing the software for your critical tasks, opt for projects that advertise their builds as reproducible. You can see which technologies are using deterministic builds in our success stories

Software Developer

Reproducible Builds elevate deterministic builds by making the build process independently verifiable by anyone. This means others can confirm your binaries match the source code exactly, fostering trust, improving debugging, speeding up builds, and demonstrating your commitment to high standards. It also allows the development of extremely concise and easily verifiable patches for any version of your software, eg. for customers that have high security requirements and need to audit every release they make.

The Commandments of Reproducible Builds are a good place to start your journey.

Tech CTO / Project Lead

Reproducible Builds add a strong layer of security to your build pipelines, enabling independent audits and ensuring every binary matches the source code. They’re a powerful tool for mitigating risks in your software supply chain, simplifying regulatory and license compliance, verifying SBOMs, and aligning your engineering practices with the highest standards. For a CTO, it’s an investment in resilience and trust.

Read on to learn about planning to make your builds reproducible

Tech CEO / Project Owner

Reproducible Builds demonstrate your company’s commitment to best-in-class processes and trustworthiness by guaranteeing the integrity of your software. Your software is enhanced with verifiable proof of consistency, giving customers confidence that your product is secure and transparent. Your supply chain and your developers are much better protected against a variety of attacks. This positions your company at the leading edge of accountability, setting you apart in competitive markets and building lasting relationships with users and stakeholders.

Find out more about the high-level benefits of Reproducible Builds

Protect developers, safeguard privacy, and ensure trust in software.Discover how Reproducible Builds help you defend against threats and empower secure collaboration.

How does it work?

First, the build system needs to be made entirely deterministic: transforming a given source must always create the same result. For example, the current date and time must not be recorded and output always has to be written in the same order.

Second, the set of tools used to perform the build and more generally the build environment should either be recorded or pre-defined.

Third, users should be given a way to recreate a close enough build environment, perform the build process, and validate that the output matches the original build.

Learn more about how to make your software build reproducibly…