Dump the software license list of Python packages installed with pip.
pip-licenses is a CLI tool for checking the software license of installed Python packages with pip.
Implemented with the idea inspired by composer licenses command in Composer (a.k.a PHP package management tool).
https://getcomposer.org/doc/03-cli.md#licenses
Install it via PyPI using pip command.
# Install or Upgrade to newest available version
$ pip install -U pip-licenses
# If upgrading from pip-licenses 3.x, remove PTable
$ pip uninstall -y PTable
Note for Python 3.7 users: pip-licenses 4.x discontinued support earlier than the Python 3.7 EOL schedule. If you want to use it with Python 3.7, install pip-licenses 3.x.
# Using old version for the Python 3.7 environment
$ pip install 'pip-licenses<4.0'
Note: If you are still using Python 2.7, install version less than 2.0. No new features will be provided for version 1.x.
$ pip install 'pip-licenses<2.0'
Execute the command with your venv (or virtualenv) environment.
# Install packages in your venv environment
(venv) $ pip install Django pip-licenses
# Check the licenses with your venv environment
(venv) $ pip-licenses
Name Version License
Django 2.0.2 BSD
pytz 2017.3 MIT
By default, this tools finds the packages from the environment pip-licenses is launched from, by searching in current python's sys.path folders. In the case you want to search for packages in an other environment (e.g. if you want to run pip-licenses from its own isolated environment), you can specify a path to a python executable. The packages will be searched for in the given python's sys.path, free of pip-licenses dependencies.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --with-system | grep pip
pip 22.3.1 MIT License
pip-licenses 4.1.0 MIT License
(venv) $ pip-licenses --python=</path/to/other/env>/bin/python --with-system | grep pip
pip 23.0.1 MIT License
By default, this tool finds the license from Trove Classifiers or package Metadata. Some Python packages declare their license only in Trove Classifiers.
(See also): Set license to MIT in setup.py by alisianoi ・ Pull Request #1058 ・ pypa/setuptools, PEP 314#License
For example, even if you check with the pip show command, the license is displayed as UNKNOWN.
(venv) $ pip show setuptools
Name: setuptools
Version: 38.5.0
Summary: Easily download, build, install, upgrade, and uninstall Python packages
Home-page: https://github.com/pypa/setuptools
Author: Python Packaging Authority
Author-email: distutils-sig@python.org
License: UNKNOWN
The mixed mode (--from=mixed) of this tool works well and looks for licenses.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --from=mixed --with-system | grep setuptools
setuptools 38.5.0 MIT License
In mixed mode, it first tries to look for licenses in the Trove Classifiers. When not found in the Trove Classifiers, the license declared in Metadata is displayed.
If you want to look only in metadata, use --from=meta. If you want to look only in Trove Classifiers, use --from=classifier.
To list license information from both metadata and classifier, use --from=all.
Note: If neither can find license information, please check with the with-authors and with-urls options and contact the software author.
m keyword is prepared as alias of meta.c keyword is prepared as alias of classifier.mix keyword is prepared as alias of mixed.
By default, it is ordered by package name.
If you give arguments to the --order option, you can output in other sorted order.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --order=license
By default, it is output to the plain format.
When executed with the --format=markdown option, you can output list in markdown format. The m md keyword is prepared as alias of markdown.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --format=markdown
| Name | Version | License |
|--------|---------|---------|
| Django | 2.0.2 | BSD |
| pytz | 2017.3 | MIT |
When inserted in a markdown document, it is rendered as follows:
| Name | Version | License |
|---|---|---|
| Django | 2.0.2 | BSD |
| pytz | 2017.3 | MIT |
When executed with the --format=rst option, you can output list in "Grid tables" of reStructuredText format. The r rest keyword is prepared as alias of rst.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --format=rst
+--------+---------+---------+
| Name | Version | License |
+--------+---------+---------+
| Django | 2.0.2 | BSD |
+--------+---------+---------+
| pytz | 2017.3 | MIT |
+--------+---------+---------+
When executed with the --format=confluence option, you can output list in Confluence (or JIRA) Wiki markup format. The c keyword is prepared as alias of confluence.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --format=confluence
| Name | Version | License |
| Django | 2.0.2 | BSD |
| pytz | 2017.3 | MIT |
When executed with the --format=html option, you can output list in HTML table format. The h keyword is prepared as alias of html.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --format=html
<table>
<tr>
<th>Name</th>
<th>Version</th>
<th>License</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Django</td>
<td>2.0.2</td>
<td>BSD</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>pytz</td>
<td>2017.3</td>
<td>MIT</td>
</tr>
</table>
When executed with the --format=json option, you can output list in JSON format easily allowing post-processing. The j keyword is prepared as alias of json.
[
{
"Author": "Django Software Foundation",
"License": "BSD",
"Name": "Django",
"URL": "https://www.djangoproject.com/",
"Version": "2.0.2"
},
{
"Author": "Stuart Bishop",
"License": "MIT",
"Name": "pytz",
"URL": "http://pythonhosted.org/pytz",
"Version": "2017.3"
}
]
When executed with the --format=json-license-finder option, you can output list in JSON format that is identical to LicenseFinder. The jlf keyword is prepared as alias of jlf.
This makes pip-licenses a drop-in replacement for LicenseFinder.
[
{
"licenses": ["BSD"],
"name": "Django",
"version": "2.0.2"
},
{
"licenses": ["MIT"],
"name": "pytz",
"version": "2017.3"
}
]
When executed with the --format=csv option, you can output list in quoted CSV format. Useful when you want to copy/paste the output to an Excel sheet.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --format=csv
"Name","Version","License"
"Django","2.0.2","BSD"
"pytz","2017.3","MIT"
When executed with the --format=plain-vertical option, you can output a simple plain vertical output that is similar to Angular CLI's
--extractLicenses flag. This format minimizes rightward drift.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --format=plain-vertical --with-license-file --no-license-path
pytest
5.3.4
MIT license
The MIT License (MIT)
Copyright (c) 2004-2020 Holger Krekel and others
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of
this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in
the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to
use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies
of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do
so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.
When executed with the --summary option, you can output a summary of each license.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --summary --from=classifier --with-system
Count License
2 BSD License
4 MIT License
Note: When using this option, only --order=count or --order=license has an effect for the --order option. And using --with-authors and --with-urls will be ignored.
When executed with the --output-file option, write the result to the path specified by the argument.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --format=rst --output-file=/tmp/output.rst
created path: /tmp/output.rst
When executed with the --ignore-packages option, ignore the package specified by argument from list output.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --ignore-packages django
Name Version License
pytz 2017.3 MIT
Package names of arguments can be separated by spaces.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --with-system --ignore-packages django pip pip-licenses
Name Version License
prettytable 3.5.0 BSD License
pytz 2017.3 MIT
setuptools 38.5.0 UNKNOWN
wcwidth 0.2.5 MIT License
Packages can also be specified with a version, only ignoring that specific version.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --with-system --ignore-packages django pytz:2017.3
Name Version License
prettytable 3.5.0 BSD License
setuptools 38.5.0 UNKNOWN
wcwidth 0.2.5 MIT License
When executed with the packages option, look at the package specified by argument from list output.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --packages django
Name Version License
Django 2.0.2 BSD
Package names of arguments can be separated by spaces.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --with-system --packages prettytable pytz
Name Version License
prettytable 3.5.0 BSD License
pytz 2017.3 MIT
By default, system packages such as pip and setuptools are ignored.
And pip-licenses and the implicit dependency prettytable and wcwidth will also be ignored.
If you want to output all including system package, use the --with-system option.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --with-system
Name Version License
Django 2.0.2 BSD
pip 9.0.1 MIT
pip-licenses 1.0.0 MIT License
prettytable 3.5.0 BSD License
pytz 2017.3 MIT
setuptools 38.5.0 UNKNOWN
wcwidth 0.2.5 MIT License
When executed with the --with-authors option, output with author of the package.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --with-authors
Name Version License Author
Django 2.0.2 BSD Django Software Foundation
pytz 2017.3 MIT Stuart Bishop
When executed with the --with-maintainers option, output with maintainer of the package.
Note: This option is available for users who want information about the maintainer as well as the author. See #144
For packages without Metadata, the license is output as UNKNOWN. To get more package information, use the --with-urls option.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --with-urls
Name Version License URL
Django 2.0.2 BSD https://www.djangoproject.com/
pytz 2017.3 MIT http://pythonhosted.org/pytz
When executed with the --with-description option, output with short description of the package.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --with-description
Name Version License Description
Django 2.0.2 BSD A high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design.
pytz 2017.3 MIT World timezone definitions, modern and historical
When executed with the --no-version option, output without the version number.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --no-version
Name License
Django BSD
pytz MIT
When executed with the --with-license-file option, output the location of the package's license file on disk and the full contents of that file. Due to the length of these fields, this option is best paired with --format=json.
If you also want to output the file NOTICE distributed under Apache License etc., specify the --with-notice-file option additionally.
Note: If you want to keep the license file path secret, specify --no-license-path option together.
Some package data contains Unicode characters which might cause problems for certain output formats (in particular ReST tables). If this filter is enabled, all characters which cannot be encoded with a given code page (see --filter-code-page) will be removed from any input strings (e.g. package name, description).
If the input strings are filtered (see --filter-strings), you can specify the applied code page (default latin-1). A list of all available code pages can be found codecs module document.
Fail (exit with code 1) on the first occurrence of the licenses of the semicolon-separated list. The license name matching is case-insensitive.
If --from=all, the option will apply to the metadata license field.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --fail-on="MIT License;BSD License"
Note: Packages with multiple licenses will fail if at least one license is included in the fail-on list. For example:
# keyring library has 2 licenses
$ pip-licenses --package keyring
Name Version License
keyring 23.0.1 MIT License; Python Software Foundation License
# If just "Python Software Foundation License" is specified, it will fail.
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --fail-on="Python Software Foundation License;"
$ echo $?
1
# Matching is case-insensitive. Following check will fail:
$ pip-licenses --fail-on="mit license"
Fail (exit with code 1) if none of the package licenses are in the semicolon-separated list. The license name matching is case-insensitive.
If --from=all, the option will apply to the metadata license field.
(venv) $ pip-licenses --allow-only="MIT License;BSD License"
Note: Packages with multiple licenses will only be allowed if at least one license is included in the allow-only list. For example:
# keyring library has 2 licenses
$ pip-licenses --package keyring
Name Version License
keyring 23.0.1 MIT License; Python Software Foundation License
# One or both licenses must be specified (order and case does not matter). Following checks will pass:
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --allow-only="MIT License"
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --allow-only="mit License"
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --allow-only="BSD License;MIT License"
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --allow-only="Python Software Foundation License"
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --allow-only="Python Software Foundation License;MIT License"
# If none of the license in the allow list match, the check will fail.
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --allow-only="BSD License"
$ echo $?
1
If set, enables partial (substring) matching for --fail-on or --allow-only. Default is unset (False).
Usage:
(venv) $ pip-licenses --partial-match --allow-only="MIT License;BSD License"
(venv) $ pip-licenses --partial-match --fail-on="MIT License;BSD License"
Note: Semantics are the same as with --fail-on or --allow-only. This only enables substring matching.
# keyring library has 2 licenses
$ pip-licenses --package keyring
Name Version License
keyring 23.0.1 MIT License; Python Software Foundation License
# One or both licenses must be specified (order and case does not matter). Following checks will pass:
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --allow-only="MIT License"
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --allow-only="mit License"
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --allow-only="BSD License;MIT License"
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --allow-only="Python Software Foundation License"
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --allow-only="Python Software Foundation License;MIT License"
# These won't pass, as they're not a full match against one of the licenses
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --allow-only="MIT"
$ echo $?
1
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --allow-only="mit"
$ echo $?
1
# with --partial-match, they pass
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --partial-match --allow-only="MIT"
$ echo $?
0
$ pip-licenses --package keyring --partial-match --allow-only="mit"
$ echo $?
0
All command-line options for pip-licenses can be configured using the pyproject.toml file under the [tool.pip-licenses] section.
The pyproject.toml file is searched in the directory where the pip-licenses script is executed.
Command-line options specified during execution will override the corresponding options in pyproject.toml.
Example pyproject.toml configuration:
[tool.pip-licences]
from = "classifier"
ignore-packages = [
"scipy"
]
fail-on = "MIT;"
If you run pip-licenses without any command-line options, all options will be taken from the pyproject.toml file.
For instance, if you run pip-licenses --from=mixed, the from option will be overridden to mixed, while all other options will be sourced from pyproject.toml.
Other, please make sure to execute the --help option.
You can check the package license used by your app in the isolated Docker environment.
# Clone this repository to local
$ git clone https://github.com/raimon49/pip-licenses.git
$ cd pip-licenses
# Create your app's requirements.txt file
# Other ways, pip freeze > docker/requirements.txt
$ echo "Flask" > docker/requirements.txt
# Build docker image
$ docker build . -t myapp-licenses
# Check the package license in container
$ docker run --rm myapp-licenses
Name Version License
Click 7.0 BSD License
Flask 1.0.2 BSD License
Jinja2 2.10 BSD License
MarkupSafe 1.1.1 BSD License
Werkzeug 0.15.2 BSD License
itsdangerous 1.1.0 BSD License
# Check with options
$ docker run --rm myapp-licenses --summary
Count License
4 BSD
2 BSD-3-Clause
# When you need help
$ docker run --rm myapp-licenses --help
Note: This Docker image can not check package licenses with C and C ++ Extensions. It only works with pure Python package dependencies.
If you want to resolve build environment issues, try using not slim image and more.
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index bfc4edc..175e968 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM python:3.11-slim-bullseye
+FROM python:3.11-bullseye
If a UnicodeEncodeError occurs, check your environment variables LANG and LC_TYPE. Additionally, you can set PYTHONIOENCODING to override the encoding used for stdout.
Often occurs in isolated environments such as Docker and tox.
See useful reports:
prettytable by Luke Maurits and maintainer of fork version Jazzband team under the BSD-3-Clause License
tomli by Taneli Hukkinen under the MIT License
pip-licenses has been implemented in the policy to minimize the dependence on external package.
Uninstall package and dependent package with pip command.
$ pip uninstall pip-licenses prettytable wcwidth
--with-system option--partial-match--allow-only and --fail-on messages with a newline--output-file with a newlineProject-URL--packages and --ignore-packages option--no-version--with-maintainers--python--ignore-packages parametersAuthor field is UNKNOWN, the output is automatically completed from Author-emailhome-page field is UNKNOWN, the output is automatically completed from Project-URL--fail-on and --allow-only parameters{) in the html outputpip-licenses --with-system option--with-license-file option--fail-on and --allow-only parameters--fail-on and --allow-onlyPython Software Foundation License, MIT LicensePython Software Foundation License; MIT License--packages--from option--from=all--fail-on--allow-onlysetup.cfg--from=mixed--filter-strings--filter-code-pageLICENSE* with run --with-license-file--with-notice-fileLICENCE with run --with-license-file--format=plain-verticalCOPYING *--from-classifier--format-markdown--format-rst--format-confluence--format-html--format-json--no-license-path--output-file--format=json-license-finder option--format=json-license-finder--ignore-packages option--format=csv--from=mixed as a mixed mode--from=meta, from=classifierOSI Approved string with multiple licenses--with-license-file--with-description--summary--format-json--format-confluence--from-classifier option--format-html--format-rst--format-markdown--ignore-packages--from-classifier--order
--order=name--with-system--with-authors--with-urlsFAQs
Dump the software license list of Python packages installed with pip.
We found that pip-licenses demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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