spdx-license-data

Open Source licenses as JSON

The data is automatically fetched from these repositories every day:

• github/choosealicense.com
• spdx/license-list-data

The information is then merged and committed into the repository if changes were made.

Data

License objects have the following fields:

• id — Short identifier specified by spdx.org/licenses
• title — The license name specified by spdx.org/licenses
• description — A human-readable description of the license
• howToUse — Instructions on how to implement the license
• note — Additional information about the licenses
• isOsiApproved — Whether this license is OSI approved
• isFsfLibre — Whether this license complies with the definition of free software by the FSF
• permissions (array, see below)
• conditions (array, see below)
• limitations (array, see below)
• text — The license text with [placeholders]:
  • [fullname] — The full name or username of the copyright owner
  • [login] — The copyright owner's username
  • [email] — The copyright owner's primary email address
  • [project] — The project name
  • [description] — The description of the project
  • [year] — The current year
  • [projecturl] — The repository URL or other project website

Permissions

• commercial-use — The software and derivatives may be used for commercial purposes.
• modifications — The software may be modified.
• distribution — The software may be distributed.
• private-use — The software may be used and modified in private.
• patent-use — The license provides an express grant of patent rights from contributors.

Conditions

• include-copyright — A copy of the license and copyright notice must be included with the software.
• include-copyright--source — A copy of the license and copyright notice must be included with the software in source form, but is not required for binaries.
• document-changes — Changes made to the code must be documented.
• disclose-source — Source code must be made available when the software is distributed.
• network-use-disclose — Users who interact with the software via network are given the right to receive a copy of the source code.
• same-license — Modifications must be released under the same license when distributing the software. In some cases a similar or related license may be used.
• same-license--file — Modifications of existing files must be released under the same license when distributing the software. In some cases a similar or related license may be used.
• same-license--library — Modifications must be released under the same license when distributing the software. In some cases a similar or related license may be used, or this condition may not apply to works that use the software as a library.

Limitations

• trademark-use — The license explicitly states that it does NOT grant trademark rights, even though licenses without such a statement probably do not grant any implicit trademark rights.
• liability — The license includes a limitation of liability.
• patent-use — The license explicitly states that it does NOT grant any rights in the patents of contributors.
• warranty — The license explicitly states that it does NOT provide any warranty.

Files

All files are located in the data directory.

• licenses.json — An array of all license objects without the text field.
• licenses.full.json — An array of all license objects.
• license-names.json — An array of all license IDs.
• licenses/[id].json — The license object for [id] without the text field.
• licenses/[id].txt — The license text for [id].
• licenses/[id].full.json — The license object for [id].

They are served under https://license-data.moritzruth.de.

Example: To access data/licenses/0BSD.json, use https://license-data.moritzruth.de/licenses/0BSD.json

NPM

npm install spdx-license-data
# or
yarn add spdx-license-data

Usage:

import licenses from "spdx-license-data"

console.log(`There are ${licenses.length} licenses.`)
console.log(`Title of the AFL-3.0 license: ${licenses.find(license => license.id === "AFL-3.0").title}`)

License

See LICENSE.