Distribution · metadata

License::SPDX

Works

The SPDX licence list as a bundled data table, looked up by identifier or walked in full, with each licence an object carrying its name, approval flags and reference URLs.

Version: 3.28.0 zef:jonathanstowe
Depends: JSON::Class
License: Artistic-2.0
Its own test suite: 2 files, green
Checked: 2026-09-15 against Raku++ 3.28.0 and Rakudo 2026.08
Where it lives: raku.land · source

Install it #

$ rakupp install License::SPDX

zef install License::SPDX writes the same store; either installer leaves the module usable by both engines.

What it is for #

"license": "Artistic-2.0" in a META6.json is an SPDX identifier, and so is the licence field in almost every package format now in use. Validating one, or turning it into a human-readable name, means having the list.

This distribution ships the list. Everything is local — no network, no ecosystem index — and the version of the list is itself readable, so you can tell how current your copy is.

Looking a licence up #

File

use License::SPDX;

my $spdx = License::SPDX.new;

say 'list version : ', $spdx.license-list-version;
say 'release date : ', $spdx.release-date;
say 'licences     : ', $spdx.license-ids.elems;
say '';

for <MIT Apache-2.0 Artistic-2.0> -> $id {
    my $l = $spdx.get-license($id);
    say $l.license-id;
    say '  name       : ', $l.name;
    say '  osi        : ', $l.is-osi-approved;
    say '  fsf-libre  : ', $l.is-fsf-libre;
    say '  deprecated : ', $l.is-deprecated-license;
    say '  reference  : ', $l.reference;
}

Output

list version : 3.28.0
release date : 2026-02-20
licences     : 727

MIT
  name       : MIT License
  osi        : True
  fsf-libre  : True
  deprecated : False
  reference  : https://spdx.org/licenses/MIT.html
Apache-2.0
  name       : Apache License 2.0
  osi        : True
  fsf-libre  : True
  deprecated : False
  reference  : https://spdx.org/licenses/Apache-2.0.html
Artistic-2.0
  name       : Artistic License 2.0
  osi        : True
  fsf-libre  : True
  deprecated : False
  reference  : https://spdx.org/licenses/Artistic-2.0.html

.licenses gives you every entry, .license-ids just the identifiers, and .license-by-id the underlying hash.

Deprecated identifiers #

File

use License::SPDX;

my $spdx = License::SPDX.new;

for <GPL-3.0 GPL-3.0-only LGPL-2.1 LGPL-2.1-only> -> $id {
    my $l = $spdx.get-license($id);
    say sprintf('%-16s deprecated=%-5s  name=%s', $id, $l.is-deprecated-license, $l.name);
}
say '';
say 'deprecated ids still resolvable : ',
    $spdx.licenses.grep(*.is-deprecated-license).elems, ' of ', $spdx.licenses.elems;

Output

GPL-3.0          deprecated=True   name=GNU General Public License v3.0 only
GPL-3.0-only     deprecated=False  name=GNU General Public License v3.0 only
LGPL-2.1         deprecated=True   name=GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1 only
LGPL-2.1-only    deprecated=False  name=GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1 only

deprecated ids still resolvable : 32 of 727

Note GPL-3.0 and GPL-3.0-only carry the identical .name. The name is not a unique key; the identifier is. Thirty-two of the entries are deprecated spellings that still resolve perfectly happily, so a lookup succeeding does not mean the identifier is one you should be writing.

The one thing to know #

A miss returns a typed undefined object, not a failure — so the blow-up happens later, at the first accessor, far from the lookup.

File

use License::SPDX;

my $spdx = License::SPDX.new;

for 'Definitely-Not-A-Licence-1.0', 'mit', 'MIT' -> $id {
    my $l = $spdx.get-license($id);
    say "lookup '$id'";
    say '  type    : ', $l.^name;
    say '  defined : ', $l.defined;
    say '  Bool    : ', ?$l;
    say '  isa License : ', $l ~~ License::SPDX::License;
    say '  .license-id : ', (try $l.license-id) // 'threw';
}

Output

lookup 'Definitely-Not-A-Licence-1.0'
  type    : License::SPDX::License
  defined : False
  Bool    : False
  isa License : True
  .license-id : threw
lookup 'mit'
  type    : License::SPDX::License
  defined : False
  Bool    : False
  isa License : True
  .license-id : threw
lookup 'MIT'
  type    : License::SPDX::License
  defined : True
  Bool    : True
  isa License : True
  .license-id : MIT

A failed lookup gives back something whose .^name is License::SPDX::License and which passes a ~~ type check. Only .defined — or with or // — separates a hit from a miss. Note also that 'mit' is a miss: lookups are case-sensitive, and SPDX identifiers are conventionally mixed case.

Test .defined immediately, or write with $spdx.get-license($id) -> $l {…}.

Where the two engines differ #

In one exception message and one introspection list, neither of which affects a working program.

The type-object accessor error reads Cannot look up attributes in a License::SPDX::License type object on Raku++ and adds Did you forget a '.new'? on Rakudo. And Rakudo's .^methods(:local) on License::SPDX::License lists an internal POPULATE method that Raku++'s does not, so method-list introspection is not portable between the engines.

Everything else — the list version, the release date, the 727 identifiers, every flag on every licence tested, and the case sensitivity — was byte-identical.