# DSS (Digital Signature Service)

> DSS (6.5.1) is the European Commission's open-source Java framework for creating, extending and validating advanced electronic signatures, published on Maven Central under LGPL-2.1. It is a developer building block: there is no send-for-signature workflow, signer emails or tracking. A demo web app and standalone app live in the separate esig/dss-demonstrations repo and are built with Maven. Needs Java 8+ to use and Java 11+ to build.

- Repository: https://github.com/esig/dss
- Official docs: https://github.com/esig/dss#readme
- Checked: 2026-10-15

## What it replaces
- DocuSign: Certificate-based digital signatures (PKI) (partial). Library for standards-based signature creation and validation only; no sending, routing or tracking.

## Facts, with sources

| Question | Status | Answer | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on my machine? | Confirmed | Yes, Java library you embed in your own application | https://github.com/esig/dss#maven-repository | 2026-10-15 |
| Code licence | Partial | LGPL-2.1 (weak copyleft) | https://github.com/esig/dss/blob/master/LICENSE | 2026-10-15 |
| Model weights licence | Confirmed | No separate model weights | https://github.com/esig/dss#readme | 2026-10-15 |
| Commercial use | Partial | Yes; LGPL-2.1 conditions apply when you modify and distribute the library | https://github.com/esig/dss/blob/master/LICENSE | 2026-10-15 |
| Paid services needed? | Confirmed | None required | https://github.com/esig/dss#readme | 2026-10-15 |
| Hardware | Unknown | Not specified; README defers to the JVM's own requirements | none found | - |
| Operating systems | Confirmed | Any OS with Java 8+; tested on Windows and Linux | https://github.com/esig/dss#requirements | 2026-10-15 |
| Setup effort | Confirmed | Hard; add Maven dependencies and write Java code; demo app is built from source | https://github.com/esig/dss-demonstrations#readme | 2026-10-15 |

GitHub: 1041 stars, 415 forks, last push 2026-10-14, archived: no.
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Source: RepoQuarry (https://repoquarry.dev/projects/eu-dss). Data licence: CC BY 4.0. Quotes are from project documentation and belong to their authors.