reuse lint "files without copyright and licensing information" in CI
reuse lint checked the repository against the REUSE specification and found files that have no copyright and/or no licensing information, so it prints them under "non-compliant" and exits 1.
What this error means
reuse lint ends with "Congratulations!" only when clean; otherwise it lists files under "files without copyright information" and "files without license information", then reports the repo is not compliant and exits 1.
# MISSING COPYRIGHT AND LICENSING INFORMATION
The following files have no copyright and licensing information:
* src/new-file.js
Unfortunately, your project is not compliant with version 3.3 of the REUSE Specification.Common causes
A new file has no SPDX header or .license
REUSE requires every file to declare copyright and license, via an SPDX header, a matching .license file, or a DEP5 entry. A newly added file without any of these is non-compliant.
The LICENSES folder is missing the referenced license
A file declares a license that has no matching text file under LICENSES/, so REUSE flags missing licensing information.
How to fix it
Annotate the file with reuse
- Run
reuse lintto list every non-compliant file. - Add copyright and license with
reuse annotate(formerlyaddheader). - Run
reuse downloadto fetch any missing license text into LICENSES/.
reuse annotate --copyright "Example Corp" \
--license MIT src/new-file.js
reuse download MIT
reuse lintCover binaries with a .license sidecar
For files that cannot hold a header (images, binaries), add a <file>.license sidecar with the SPDX tags so REUSE finds the metadata.
# logo.png.license
SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Example Corp
SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0How to prevent it
- Run reuse lint in CI so non-compliant files never merge.
- Add SPDX headers as part of the file template for new code.
- Keep the LICENSES/ folder in sync with every license you reference.