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Use Cases

Real-world scenarios and how to set up lops for each.

1. Open-Source Go Project​

A typical Go project using Apache-2.0 with standard layout.

.licenseops.yaml:

license: Apache-2.0
copyright-holder: 'The MyProject Authors'

exclude:
  - 'vendor/**'
  - '**/*.pb.go'
  - '**/zz_generated.*'

Usage:

# Check in CI
lops check

# Fix locally before committing
lops fix

Result:

// Copyright 2026 The MyProject Authors
// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0

package main

2. JavaScript/TypeScript Monorepo​

A Node.js monorepo with MIT license, multiple packages, and build output to exclude.

.licenseops.yaml:

license: MIT
copyright-holder: 'Acme Corp'

paths:
  - 'packages/'
  - 'apps/'

exclude:
  - 'node_modules/**'
  - '**/dist/**'
  - '**/build/**'
  - '**/*.min.js'
  - '**/*.d.ts'
  - '**/coverage/**'

Result:

// Copyright 2026 Acme Corp
// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

export function hello(): string {
  return 'world';
}

3. Python Package​

A Python project with shebang scripts and encoding declarations.

.licenseops.yaml:

license: BSD-3-Clause
copyright-holder: 'University Research Lab'

exclude:
  - '**/__pycache__/**'
  - '*.egg-info/**'
  - 'venv/**'
  - '.venv/**'

Result for a normal file:

# Copyright 2026 University Research Lab
# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause

import os

Result for a script with shebang:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

# Copyright 2026 University Research Lab
# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause

def main():
    pass

Result with encoding declaration:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

# Copyright 2026 University Research Lab
# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause

def main():
    pass

LicenseOps preserves shebangs and encoding declarations at the top automatically.

4. Rust Project with Dual License​

Many Rust projects use dual Apache-2.0/MIT licensing.

.licenseops.yaml:

license: 'Apache-2.0 OR MIT'
copyright-holder: 'The Rust Project Contributors'

exclude:
  - 'target/**'

Result:

// Copyright 2026 The Rust Project Contributors
// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 OR MIT

fn main() {
    println!("Hello, world!");
}

Some projects (like the Linux kernel) use only the SPDX identifier line without a copyright line.

.licenseops.yaml:

license: GPL-2.0-only
# copyright-holder intentionally omitted for 1-line mode

Result for Go:

// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only

package main

Result for CSS:

/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only */

body {
  margin: 0;
}

6. FSFE REUSE Compliant Project​

Projects following the REUSE specification use SPDX-FileCopyrightText tags.

.licenseops.yaml:

license: GPL-3.0-or-later
copyright-holder: 'Jane Doe <jane@example.com>'
format: reuse

Result:

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Jane Doe <jane@example.com>
# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later

def hello():
    pass

7. Apache Foundation Style Project​

Projects that follow the Apache Foundation's guidelines with the full boilerplate.

.licenseops.yaml:

license: Apache-2.0
copyright-holder: 'The Apache Software Foundation'
format: apache-long

Result:

// Copyright 2026 The Apache Software Foundation
//
// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
// You may obtain a copy of the License at
//
//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
//
// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
// limitations under the License.

public class App {
}

8. GPL Project with Full Boilerplate​

.licenseops.yaml:

license: GPL-3.0-or-later
copyright-holder: 'Free Software Project'
format: gpl-long

Result:

// Copyright 2026 Free Software Project
//
// This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
// it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
// (at your option) any later version.
//
// This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
// GNU General Public License for more details.
//
// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
// along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

#include <stdio.h>

9. Custom Header Template​

For organizations with non-standard header requirements.

headers/company.tmpl:

{{.Comment}} Copyright (c) {{.Year}} {{.Holder}}. All rights reserved.
{{.Comment}} Use of this source code is governed by the {{.License}} license
{{.Comment}} that can be found in the LICENSE file in the root of this repository.
{{.Comment}}
{{.Comment}} NOTICE: This software is proprietary and confidential.

.licenseops.yaml:

license: MIT
copyright-holder: 'MegaCorp Inc.'
format: custom
header-template: 'headers/company.tmpl'

Result:

// Copyright (c) 2026 MegaCorp Inc. All rights reserved.
// Use of this source code is governed by the MIT license
// that can be found in the LICENSE file in the root of this repository.
//
// NOTICE: This software is proprietary and confidential.

package main

10. Migrating Between Formats​

Switching from Apache long boilerplate to SPDX short headers across a codebase.

Command:

lops fix -l Apache-2.0 -o "New Corp" -f spdx .

LicenseOps detects the old format and fully replaces it with the new one — no manual cleanup needed.

11. Multi-Language Project​

A project with Go, Python, Shell, SQL, and CSS files. No special config needed — lops auto-detects the correct comment style for each file type.

.licenseops.yaml:

license: Apache-2.0
copyright-holder: 'DevTeam'

exclude:
  - 'vendor/**'
  - 'node_modules/**'
  - '**/*.min.*'

Results across languages:

FileHeader Style
main.go// Copyright 2026 DevTeam
app.py# Copyright 2026 DevTeam
deploy.shShebang preserved, then # Copyright 2026 DevTeam
query.sql-- Copyright 2026 DevTeam
style.css/* Copyright 2026 DevTeam ... */ (block comment)
index.html<!-- Copyright 2026 DevTeam ... -->
config.yaml# Copyright 2026 DevTeam
data.jsonSkipped (no comment syntax)

12. CI-Only Usage (No Config File)​

For simple projects or one-off checks, use CLI flags only — no config file needed.

# Check
lops check -l MIT -o "My Name" .

# Fix
lops fix -l MIT -o "My Name" .

# Check with verbose output
lops check -l MIT -o "My Name" -v .

# Preview what fix would change
lops fix -l MIT -o "My Name" --dry-run .
tip

For anything beyond one-off usage, commit a .licenseops.yaml to your repo so CI and local dev use the same settings. See the Configuration Guide.

See Also​