Python licenser

The Python licenser is aimed at distilling down the appropriate license for one or many pip "requirements" files into a single file.

How do I install it?

$ pip install python-licenser

How do I use it?

$ python3 -m python_licenser -h

How does it work?

With no arguments (other than a pip "requirements" file and a Python executable path that has those requirements installed), the process is as follows:

• walk the given Python executable's site-packages folder and build up package metadata (and license files, if present)
• filter down by packages that are listed in the pip "requirements" file (and those packages dependencies, and their dependencies, and their dependencies... you get the gist)
  • note: it follows "-r some_file.txt" references found in the pip "requirements" files
• if a license name could not be secured for a package, try to gather that from the package's PyPI web page
  • if a license name has still not been secured and the package lists a GitHub home page, try to find a license from there
    • otherwise, assume the package to be commercially licensed (as it is legally understood that is the case)
• if a license file could not be secured for a package and the package lists a GitHub home page, try to find a license from there
  • otherwise, create a license (for the known license name) from a local collection of licenses (within the Python Third Party License Generator)
• show a summary of packages against licenses to the user
• build a THIRDPARTYLICENSES file in the current folder
• give a return code of zero for success or non-zero for failures (e.g. GPL-licensed packages detected when specified to not permit GPL)

It's worth noting that information learned about packages is cached- so if you have to build one third party licenses file for a large project that has many components with many dependencies (but some overlap) then it's best to specify all those pip "requirements" files and Python executable paths in a single call to the Python third_party_license_file_generator as it will take less time overall.

You can specify a number of command line options (check syntax with -h) to do things like the following:

• handle multiple pip "requirements" files
• handle multiple Python executable paths
• whether or not to permit GPL-licensed packages (default no)
• specific GPL-licensed package exceptions (e.g. if a package lists exceptions to the GPL that may suit your needs but is still GPL-licensed)
• whether or not to permit comercially-licensed packages (default no)
• specific comercially-licensed package exceptions (e.g. if you have a license for a package or if you own a package)
• a "skip prefix" (e.g. if you want to skip all packages starting with a certain string)
• disable internet lookups (if you don't want to pull data from PyPI and GitHub)

Examples

Two different pip "requirements" files, two different Python paths (Virtualenvs) and a skip prefix:

python -m third_party_license_file_generator \
    -r requirements-py.txt \
    -p ~/.virtualenvs/backend_py/bin/python \
    -r requirements-pypy.txt \
    -p ~/.virtualenvs/backend_pypy/bin/python \
    -s ims-

Please note that pip "requirements" files and Python executable paths are paired together in the order they're specified.

Three different pip "requirements" files, two different Python paths (need to repeat), a GPL exception and a custom output file:

python -m third_party_license_file_generator \
    -r requirements.txt \
    -p ~/.virtualenvs/api_pypy/bin/python \
    -r pypy_requirements.txt \
    -p ~/.virtualenvs/api_pypy/bin/python \
    -r cpython_requirements.txt \
    -p ~/.virtualenvs/api_py/bin/python \
    -x uWSGI \ 
    -o ThirdPartyLicenses.txt

Three different pip "requirements" files, two different Python paths (need to repeat), a GPL exception, a custom output file and a license override file:

# contents of license_override_file.yml
uWSGI: 
    license_name: GPL-2.0 w/ linking exception
    license_file: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unbit/uwsgi/master/LICENSE

python -m third_party_license_file_generator \
    -r requirements.txt \
    -p ~/.virtualenvs/api_pypy/bin/python \
    -r pypy_requirements.txt \
    -p ~/.virtualenvs/api_pypy/bin/python \
    -r cpython_requirements.txt \
    -p ~/.virtualenvs/api_py/bin/python \
    -x uWSGI \ 
    -o ThirdPartyLicenses.txt \
    -l license_override_file.yml

An example of the structure of the generated third party license file is as follows:

Start of 'ThirdPartyLicenses.txt' generated by Python third_party_license_generator at 2018-04-19 12:36:58.627421

----------------------------------------

Package: Django
License: BSD-3-clause
Requires: pytz
Author: Django Software Foundation <foundation@djangoproject.com>
Home page: https://www.djangoproject.com/

(license content appears here in full)

----------------------------------------

End of 'ThirdPartyLicenses.txt' generated by Python third_party_license_generator at 2018-04-19 12:36:58.627825