Best Black Duck Alternatives for GitHub Integration

SonarQube is indeed a suitable alternative to Black Duck for your specific needs, offering comprehensive security scanning, license compliance, and operational checks with excellent GitHub integration. For your Databricks, ADLS, web app, and Power BI projects, SonarQube provides a robust solution that can significantly reduce the noise you’re experiencing while maintaining thorough analysis capabilities.

Contents

• Is SonarQube a Suitable Black Duck Alternative?
• Key Black Duck Alternatives Compared
• GitHub Integration Requirements
• Tools for Your Specific Tech Stack
• Implementation Recommendations

Is SonarQube a Suitable Black Duck Alternative?

SonarQube stands as an excellent replacement for Black Duck, particularly for reducing developer burden while maintaining comprehensive scanning capabilities. According to industry analysis, SonarQube is one of the most popular alternatives to Black Duck, offering a different approach to software composition analysis that many organizations find less intrusive source.

The key advantages of SonarQube over Black Duck in your context include:

Reduced Noise: Many developers report that SonarQube produces fewer false positives and less “noise” compared to Black Duck, making it easier for development teams to focus on genuine security issues rather than overwhelming alerts source.

Excellent GitHub Integration: SonarQube seamlessly integrates with GitHub Actions, providing automatic scanning on each push or pull request without disrupting the development workflow source.

Comprehensive Coverage: SonarQube handles security checks, license compliance, and operational checks through its various analyzers and plugins, making it a versatile solution for your diverse project portfolio.

Key Black Duck Alternatives Compared

While SonarQube is an excellent choice, several other alternatives should be considered based on your specific requirements:

Snyk

• Security Focus: Specializes in developer-first security scanning
• GitHub Integration: Deep integration with GitHub Actions for automated security scanning
• License Compliance: Comprehensive license scanning and management
• Operational Checks: Container and infrastructure scanning capabilities
• Best For: Organizations prioritizing security-first approaches source

GitLab SCA

• Integrated Platform: Part of the GitLab DevOps platform
• GitHub Integration: Can integrate with GitHub repositories
• Comprehensive Scanning: Security, license, and dependency analysis
• Best For: Teams already using GitLab or wanting an all-in-one solution source

Checkmarx

• Application Security Testing: Combines SCA with static application security testing (SAST)
• IDE Integration: Plugins for VS Code, IntelliJ, Visual Studio
• CI/CD Integration: Works with GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, and Jenkins
• Best For: Organizations needing both code analysis and dependency scanning source

Mend.io (Formerly Mend)

• Supply Chain Security: Focuses on open-source supply chain security
• Automated Remediation: Automated ticketing and remediation workflows
• Comprehensive Coverage: Security, license, and operational checks
• Best For: Organizations focused on open-source risk management source

GitHub Integration Requirements

All the recommended tools offer robust GitHub integration that can automatically perform the three types of checks you require:

Security Checks

• SonarQube: Automatically detects security vulnerabilities in code dependencies and provides detailed remediation guidance
• Snyk: Real-time security scanning with CVE database integration
• Checkmarx: Static analysis for security vulnerabilities in both code and dependencies

License Checks

• SonarQube: License compliance scanning with customizable policies
• Snyk: Open-source license scanning and compliance management
• Mend.io: Comprehensive license analysis and compliance reporting

Operational Checks

• SonarQube: Code quality metrics, maintainability analysis, and technical debt tracking
• GitLab SCA: Container security and infrastructure scanning
• Finite State: Binary analysis and supply chain security (alternative to consider) source

Tools for Your Specific Tech Stack

Databricks Projects

• SonarQube: Supports Python, Scala, and Java analysis - perfect for Databricks workloads
• Snyk: Container scanning for Databricks containers and dependency management

Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS)

• SonarQube: Can analyze data processing pipelines and Spark applications
• Checkmarx: Provides security scanning for data processing workflows

Web Applications

• SonarQube: Comprehensive web application security scanning
• Snyk: Frontend and backend dependency scanning for web apps

Power BI Projects

• SonarQube: Can analyze Power BI custom visuals and dataflows
• Specialized Tools: Consider supplementing with Power BI-specific security scanners

Implementation Recommendations

Primary Solution: SonarQube

1. Setup: Deploy SonarQube Server or use SonarCloud (cloud version)
2. GitHub Integration: Configure SonarScanner to run in GitHub Actions
3. Configuration: Set up quality gates for security, license compliance, and operational metrics
4. Customization: Tailor rules to reduce noise for your specific project types

Complementary Solution: Snyk

1. GitHub App Installation: Install Snyk as a GitHub App for automated scanning
2. Dependency Scanning: Configure Snyk to scan dependencies for vulnerabilities
3. License Scanning: Set up license compliance policies
4. Integration: Use alongside SonarQube for enhanced security coverage

Implementation Workflow

# Example GitHub Actions workflow combining tools
name: Security & Quality Scan
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  sonarqube-scan:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: SonarQube Scan
        uses: SonarSource/sonarcloud-github-action@master
        env:
          SONAR_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SONAR_TOKEN }}
  
  snyk-scan:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Run Snyk Security Scan
        uses: snyk/actions/node@master
        env:
          SNYK_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SNYK_TOKEN }}

Configuration Tips for Reducing Noise

1. Custom Rules: Create custom quality profiles tailored to your project types
2. Threshold Adjustments: Set appropriate severity thresholds for your team
3. Suppression: Configure legitimate suppressions for known false positives
4. Regular Reviews: Periodically review and tune scanning rules

Sources

1. Top 10 Black Duck SCA Alternatives - PeerSpot
2. SonarQube vs Black Duck Differences - StackShare
3. Black Duck vs SonarQube Comparison - SaaSHub
4. SonarQube GitHub Integration Documentation
5. Checkmarx vs Black Duck Comparison - Aikido Security
6. Top SCA Tools Review - Xygeni
7. Black Duck Security Scan GitHub Action

Conclusion

For your specific needs across Databricks, ADLS, web apps, and Power BI, SonarQube emerges as the most suitable alternative to Black Duck, offering excellent GitHub integration and comprehensive scanning capabilities while reducing developer noise. Consider implementing SonarQube as your primary solution with Snyk as a complementary tool for enhanced security coverage.

The recommended approach combines:

• SonarQube for comprehensive code quality, security, and license scanning
• Snyk for additional security layers and developer-friendly scanning
• Custom GitHub Actions workflow for automated checks on every push

This combination will provide the security, license, and operational checks you need while significantly reducing the unnecessary code burdens that your team is currently experiencing with Black Duck.