Considering Software Preservation

Software is a class of electronic object which is by its very nature digital, and the preservation of software is often a vital prerequisite to the preservation of other electronic objects. However, software has many characteristics that make preserving it substantially more challenging than for many other types of digital object. Software is inherently complex, normally composed of a very large number of highly interdependent components and often forbiddingly opaque for people other than those who were directly involved in its development. Software is also highly sensitive to its operating environment, with the typical software artefact depending on a large number of other items including compilers, runtime environments, operating systems, documentation and even the hardware platform with its built-in software stack. Preserving a piece of software thus involves preserving much of its context as well.