java-license-auditor-cli

A CLI designed to list and audit licenses in project dependencies in Java projects. The CLI can output both markdown reports and CSV files and is designed to run in CI workflows. Included in the package is a DangerJS plugin that can be used to audit licenses in the PR process.

In current state, only Java projects using Maven or Gradle are supported.

Installation of the CLI

You can install this tool globally, using the following yarn command:

yarn global add @jpfulton/java-license-auditor-cli

Local Configuration

To override the default configuration, which is extremely minimal, place a .license-checker.json file in the root directory of your project with the following format:

{
  "blackList": ["blacklisted-license"],
  "whiteList": ["whitelisted-license"]
}

Licenses in the blackList array will generate errors in the report. Licenses in the whiteList array will generate information lines and licenses types that exist in neither array generate warnings for further investigation.

Remote Configurations

Remote configurations can be used to override the default configuration. To use a remote configuration, specify the URL to the configuration file using the --remote-config flag. Remote configurations are useful when applying the same configuration to multiple projects to avoid the need to copy the configuration file to each project and maintain the configurations in multiple places.

java-license-auditor-cli csv --remote-config https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jpfulton/node-license-auditor-cli/main/.license-checker.json . > report.csv

java-license-auditor-cli markdown --remote-config https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jpfulton/node-license-auditor-cli/main/.license-checker.json . > report.md

Usage as a DangerJS Plugin

This project can be used as a DangerJS plugin. To use the plugin, install the plugin using the following command:

yarn add -D danger @jpfulton/java-license-auditor-cli

Then, add the following to your dangerfile.ts:

import { javaLicenseAuditor } from "@jpfulton/java-license-auditor-cli";

export default async () => {
  // Run the license auditor plugin
  await licenseAuditor({
    // optionally choose to fail the build if a blacklisted license is found
    failOnBlacklistedLicense: false,
    // specify the path to the project's package.json file, useful in a monorepo
    // defaults to the current working directory
    projectPath: ".",
    // optionally specify a remote configuration file
    // useful when applying the same configuration to multiple projects
    // defaults to usage of a local configuration file found at the root of the project repo
    remoteConfigurationUrl:
      "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jpfulton/jpfulton-license-audits/main/.license-checker.json",
    // show a summary of the license audit in the PR comment
    // includes the number of unique dependencies and counts for each category of license found
    showMarkdownSummary: true,
    // show details of the license audit in the PR comment
    // includes a table with the name, version and license of each dependency
    // that was discovered that was not explicitly whitelisted in the configuration
    showMarkdownDetails: true,
  });
};

Layering this Project over Maven and Gradle Java Projects

Both Maven and Gradle have the ability to generate a dependency tree for a project. In the case of Maven, a license report can be generated using a default Maven plugin: project-info-reports:dependencies. In the case of Gradle, a license report can be generated using a third-party plugin: com.github.jk1.dependency-license-report.

This project is designed to be layered over the results of the reports generated by those plugins. The advantage of this project and its use with the jpfulton/danger-js-action project is that it can be used to centralize the license audit process across multiple projects and languages. Additionally, it brings the audit project into the PR review process in an automated and ongoing way.

Usage with Maven

To use this project with Maven, first generate a dependency license report using the following command:

mvn project-info-reports:dependencies

The utilize the CLI functionality of the project or the DangerJS plugin to audit the licenses.

Usage with Gradle

To use this project with Gradle, first integrate the com.github.jk1.dependency-license-report into your project. Then, generate a dependency license report using the following command:

./gradlew generateLicenseReport

The Gradle-License-Report plugin needs to be configured to use its JsonReportRenderer to generate the report in JSON format. The following is an example Groovy configuration:

licenseReport {
    outputDir = file("$buildDir/build/licenses")
    renderers = [new JsonReportRenderer('licenses.json')]
}

In current state, this project will look for the licenses.json file in the following locations:

• build/licenses/licenses.json
• licenses/licenses.json

Then, utilize the CLI functionality of the project or the DangerJS plugin to audit the licenses.