iandotkellyNode License Finder (nlf)
nlf is a utility for attempting to identify the licenses of modules in a node.js project.
It looks for license information in package.json, readme and license files in the project. Please note, in many cases the utility is looking for standard strings in these files, such as MIT, BSD, Apache, GPL etc - this is not error free, so if you have any concerns at all about the accuracy of the results, you will need to perform a detailed manual review of the project and its dependencies, reading all terms of any included or referenced license.
Use
nlf can be used programmatically, or from the command line.
Options
-c,--csv(Default:false) - output in csv format-d,--no-dev(Default:false) - exclude development dependencies-r,--reach(Default: Infinity) - package depth (reach), 0 is current package.json file only-s,--summary off|simple|detail(Default: simple) - summary information, not available in csv format
CLI
To install:
$ npm install -g nlf
To use:
$ cd my-module
$ nlfExample output:
archy@0.0.2 [license(s): MIT/X11] └── package.json: MIT/X11 commander@0.6.1 [license(s): MIT] └── readme files: MIT glob@3.2.3 [license(s): BSD] ├── package.json: BSD └── license files: BSD json-stringify-safe@5.0.0 [license(s): BSD] ├── package.json: BSD └── license files: BSD read-installed@0.2.2 [license(s): BSD] └── license files: BSD should@1.2.2 [license(s): MIT] └── readme files: MIT LICENSES: BSD, MIT, MIT/X11
For output in CSV format use the -c (or --csv) switch:
$ cd my-module
$ nlf -cTo exclude development dependencies and only analyze dependencies for production:
$ cd my-module
$ nlf -dSummary Mode
--summary <mode> option, which can be set to "off", "simple" or "detail". This option controls what will be printed in summary in standard format.
offturns off summary outputsimpleshows a list of licenses used in the project, the default behaviordetailshows all modules in current project and group by licenses. As example below:
LICENSES:
├─┬ BSD
│ ├── amdefine@1.0.0
│ ├── boom@0.4.2
│ ├── cryptiles@0.2.2
│ └── diff@1.4.0
├─┬ BSD-2-Clause
│ └── normalize-package-data@2.3.5
├─┬ Apache-2.0
│ ├── request@2.40.0
│ ├── spdx-correct@1.0.2
│ └── validate-npm-package-license@3.0.1
├─┬ (MIT AND CC-BY-3.0)
│ └── spdx-expression-parse@1.0.1
└─┬ MPL
└── tough-cookie@2.2.1Programmatically
var nlf = require('nlf');
nlf.find({ directory: '/User/me/my-project' }, function (err, data) {
// do something with the response object.
console.log(JSON.stringify(data));
});
// to only include production dependencies
nlf.find({
directory: '/User/me/my-project',
production: true
}, function (err, data) {
// do something with the response object.
console.log(JSON.stringify(data));
});
The data returned from find() is an array of modules, each of which is represented by an object as the following example:
{
"id": "example@0.2.9",
"name": "example",
"version": "0.2.9",
"repository": "http:\/\/github.com\/iandotkelly\/example",
"directory": "\/Users\/ian\/example",
"licenseSources": {
"package": {
"sources": [
{
"license": "MIT",
"url": "http://opensource.org/MIT"
}
]
},
"license": {
"sources": [
{
"filePath": "\/Users\/ian\/Personal\/example\/LICENSE",
"text": "the text of the license file",
"names": function() { // function that returns the name of the license if known }
}
]
},
"readme": {
"sources": [
{
"filePath": "\/Users\/ian\/Personal\/example\/readme.md",
"text": "text of the readme"
"names": function() { // function that returns the name of the license if known }
}
]
}
}
}Each
Tests
To run the unit tests, install development dependencies and run tests with 'gulp'. Requires gulp.js to be installed globally.
# only need to install gulp if you have not done so already
$ npm install -g gulp
$ cd nlf
$ npm install
$ gulpIf you contribute to the project, tests are written in mocha, using should.js or the node.js assert module.