Usage

Command Line Usage

Once installed, you can call the tool via the following methods:

$ python3 -m cyclonedx_py
$ cyclonedx-py
$ cyclonedx-bom  # deprecated

The full documentation can be issued by running with --help:

$ cyclonedx-py --help
usage: cyclonedx-py [-h] (-c | -cj | -e | -p | -pip | -r) [-i FILE_PATH]
                 [--format {json,xml}] [--schema-version {1.4,1.3,1.2,1.1,1.0}]
                 [-o FILE_PATH] [-F] [-X]

CycloneDX SBOM Generator

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -c, --conda           Build a SBOM based on the output from `conda list
                        --explicit` or `conda list --explicit --md5`
  -cj, --conda-json     Build a SBOM based on the output from `conda list
                        --json`
  -e, --e, --environment
                        Build a SBOM based on the packages installed in your
                        current Python environment (default)
  -p, --p, --poetry     Build a SBOM based on a Poetry poetry.lock's contents.
                        Use with -i to specify absolute path to a `poetry.lock`
                        you wish to use, else we'll look for one in the
                        current working directory.
  -pip, --pip           Build a SBOM based on a PipEnv Pipfile.lock's
                        contents. Use with -i to specify absolute path to a
                        `Pipefile.lock` you wish to use, else we'll look for
                        one in the current working directory.
  -r, --r, --requirements
                        Build a SBOM based on a requirements.txt's contents.
                        Use with -i to specify absolute path to a
                        `requirements.txt` you wish to use, else we'll look
                        for one in the current working directory.
  -X                    Enable debug output

Input Method:
  Flags to determine how this tool obtains it's input

  -i FILE_PATH, --in-file FILE_PATH
                        File to read input from, or STDIN if not specified

SBOM Output Configuration:
  Choose the output format and schema version

  --format {json,xml}   The output format for your SBOM (default: xml)
  --schema-version {1.4,1.3,1.2,1.1,1.0}
                        The CycloneDX schema version for your SBOM (default:
                        1.3)
  -o FILE_PATH, --o FILE_PATH, --output FILE_PATH
                        Output file path for your SBOM (set to '-' to output
                        to STDOUT)
  -F, --force           If outputting to a file and the stated file already
                        exists, it will be overwritten.

From your current Python Environment

This will produce the most accurate and complete CycloneDX BOM as it will include all transitive dependencies required by the packages defined in your project’s manifest (think requirements.txt).

When using Environment as the source, any license information available from the installed packages will also be included in the generated CycloneDX BOM.

Simply run:

cyclonedx-py -e -o -

This will generate a CycloneDX including all packages installed in your current Python environment and output to STDOUT in XML using the default schema version 1.3 by default.

From your Python application manifest

Note

Manifest scanning limits the amount of information available. Each manifest type contains different information but all are significantly less complete than scanning your actual Python Environment.

Conda

We support parsing output from Conda in various formats:

  • Explict output (run conda list --explicit or conda list --explicit --md5)

  • JSON output (run conda list --json)

As example:

conda list --explicit --md5 | cyclonedx-py -c -o cyclonedx.xml

Poetry

We support parsing your poetry.lock file which should be committed along with your pyproject.toml and details exact pinned versions.

You can then run cyclonedx-py as follows:

cyclonedx-py -p -i PATH/TO/poetry.lock -o sbom.xml

If your poetry.lock is in the current working directory, you can also shorten this to:

cyclonedx-py -p -o sbom.xml

Pip

We currently support Pipfile.lock manifest files.

You can then run cyclonedx-bom as follows:

cyclonedx-py -pip -i PATH/TO/Pipfile.lock -o sbom.xml

If your Pipfile.lock is in the current working directory, you can also shorten this to:

cyclonedx-pu -pip -o sbom.xml

Requirements

We support requirements.txt manifest files. Note that a SBOM such as CycloneDX expects exact version numbers, therefore if you wish to generate a BOM from a requirements.txt, these must be frozen. This can be accomplished via:

pip freeze > requirements.txt

You can then run cyclonedx-bom as follows:

cyclonedx-py -r -i PATH/TO/requirements.txt -o sbom.xml

If your requirements.txt is in the current working directory, you can also shorten this to:

cyclonedx-py -r -o sbom.xml

This will generate a CycloneDX and output to STDOUT in XML using the default schema version 1.3.

Note

If you failed to freeze your dependencies before passing the requirements.txt data to cyclonedx-bom, you’ll be warned about this and the dependencies that do not have pinned versions WILL NOT be included in the resulting CycloneDX output.

Programmatic Usage

This library provides a number of concrete implementations of cyclondex.parser.BaserParser. Parsers are provided as a quick way to generate a BOM for Python applications or from Python environments.

WARNING: Limited information will be available when generating a BOM using some Parsers due to limited information kept/supplied by those package managers. See below for details of what fields can be completed by different Parsers.

Easily create your parser instance as follows:

from cyclonedx_py.parser.environment import EnvironmentParser

parser = EnvironmentParser()

Conda

Environment

Pip

Poetry

  • cyclonedx.parser.poetry.PoetryParser: Parses poetry.lock content passed in as a string

  • cyclonedx.parser.poetry.PoetryFileParser: Parses the poetry.lock file at the supplied path

Requirements

CycloneDX software bill-of-materials require pinned versions of requirements. If your requirements.txt does not have pinned versions, warnings will be recorded and the dependencies without pinned versions will be excluded from the generated CycloneDX. CycloneDX schemas (from version 1.0+) require a component to have a version when included in a CycloneDX bill of materials (according to schema).

If you need to use a requirements.txt in your project that does not have pinned versions an acceptable workaround might be to:

pip install -r requirements.txt
pip freeze > requirements-frozen.txt

You can then feed in the frozen requirements from requirements-frozen.txt or use the Environment parser once you have installed your dependencies.

Parser Schema Support

Different parsers support population of different information about your dependencies due to how information is obtained and limitations of what information is available to each Parser. The sections below explain coverage as to what information is obtained by each set of Parsers. It does NOT guarantee the information is output in the resulting CycloneDX BOM document.

The below tables do not state whether specific schema versions support the attributes/items, just whether this library does.

xPath is used to refer to data attributes according to the Cyclone DX Specification.

bom.components.component

Data Path

Parser Support

Conda

Environment

Pip

Poetry

Requirements

.supplier

N

N - Note 1

N/A

N/A

N/A

.author

N

Y - Note 1

N/A

N/A

N/A

.publisher

N

N - Note 1

N/A

N/A

N/A

.group

N

N

N

N

N

.name

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

.version

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

.description

N

N

N/A

N

N/A

.scope

N

N

N/A

N

N/A

.hashes

Y - Note 2

N/A

Y - Note 3

Y - Note 3

N/A

.licenses

N

Y - Note 1

N/A

N/A

N/A

.copyright

N

N - Note 1

N/A

N/A

N/A

.cpe

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

.purl

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

.swid

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

.modified

Deprecated - not used

.pedigree

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

.externalReferences

Y - Note 3

N/A

Y - Note 1

Y - Note 1

N/A

.properties

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

.components

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

.evidence

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

.releaseNotes

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Legend:

  • Y: YES with any caveat states.

  • N: Not currently supported, but support believed to be possible.

  • N/A: Not supported and not deemed possible (i.e. the Parser would never be able to reliably determine this info).

Notes

  1. If contained in the packaages METADATA

  2. MD5 hashses are available when using the CondaListExplicitParser with output from the conda command conda list --explicit --md5 only

  3. Python packages are regularly available as both .whl and .tar.gz packages. This means for that for a given package and version multiple artefacts are possible - which would mean multiple hashes are possible. CycloneDX supports only a single set of hashes identifying a single artefact at component.hashes. To cater for this situation in Python, we add the hashes to component.externalReferences, as we cannot determine which package was actually obtained and installed to meet a given dependency.