templates: license is now EPL-1.0 by default, change with :license/id

fmjrey · fmjrey · commit 86152fdae1ec · 2026-02-26T21:04:54.000+01:00
This new feature is based on the [clj-spdx](https://github.com/pmonks/clj-spdx) library to access the license repository managed by [SPDX](https://spdx.dev/). See `practicalli.licenses/id->license` for more details.
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. This change log follows the conventions of [keepachangelog.com](http://keepachangelog.com/).
 
 # [Unreleased]
+## Added
+- templates: license is now EPL-1.0 by default, change with :license/id option
 
 # 2026-02-05
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -61,10 +61,12 @@ Override the defaults used to create a project using command line options
 * `:name` and value to create a project with a different name, e.g. `github-org/project-name`
 * `:target-dir` to specify a directory to create the project in
 * `:overwrite` an existing project with the same `:target-dir name`, `true` updates, `:delete` deletes existing project and replaces it with new project
+* `:license/id` to specify a different license than the default EPL-1.0, see the [SPDX license list](https://spdx.org/licenses/) for a list of available license identifiers.
 
 ```shell
 clojure -T:project/create :template practicalli/service \
-:name practicalli/gameboard :target-dir gameboard-service
+:name practicalli/gameboard :target-dir gameboard-service \
+:license/id '"MIT"'
 ```
 
 
diff --git a/deps.edn b/deps.edn
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 {:paths ["src" "resources"]
 
  :deps
- {org.clojure/clojure {:mvn/version "1.12.4"}}
+ {org.clojure/clojure {:mvn/version "1.12.4"}
+  com.github.pmonks/clj-spdx {:mvn/version "1.0.286"}}
 
  :aliases
  {;; Add libraries and paths to support additional test tools
diff --git a/resources/practicalli/application/root/LICENSE b/resources/practicalli/application/root/LICENSE
diff --git a/resources/practicalli/application/root/README.md b/resources/practicalli/application/root/README.md
@@ -140,4 +140,4 @@ Or build and run the service via the multi-stage `Dockerfile` configuration as p
 
 Copyright © {{now/year}} {{developer}}
 
-[Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/")
+[{{license/name}}]({{license/url}})
diff --git a/resources/practicalli/landing_page/root/LICENSE b/resources/practicalli/landing_page/root/LICENSE
diff --git a/resources/practicalli/landing_page/root/README.md b/resources/practicalli/landing_page/root/README.md
@@ -62,4 +62,4 @@ make dist
 
 Copyright © 2023 {{developer}}
 
-Distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International
+[{{license/name}}]({{license/url}})
diff --git a/resources/practicalli/minimal/root/LICENSE b/resources/practicalli/minimal/root/LICENSE
diff --git a/resources/practicalli/minimal/root/README.md b/resources/practicalli/minimal/root/README.md
@@ -142,4 +142,4 @@ Or build and run the service via the multi-stage `Dockerfile` configuration as p
 
 Copyright © {{now/year}} {{developer}}
 
-[Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/")
+[{{license/name}}]({{license/url}})
diff --git a/resources/practicalli/service/root/LICENSE b/resources/practicalli/service/root/LICENSE
diff --git a/resources/practicalli/service/root/README.md b/resources/practicalli/service/root/README.md
@@ -133,4 +133,4 @@ Or build and run the service via the multi-stage `Dockerfile` configuration as p
 
 Copyright © {{now/year}} {{developer}}
 
-[Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/")
+[{{license/name}}]({{license/url}})
diff --git a/src/practicalli/application.clj b/src/practicalli/application.clj
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@
 
 (ns practicalli.application
   "Programmatic transformation of template substitution data
-  and declarative transformation rules")
+  and declarative transformation rules"
+  (:require [practicalli.licenses :as licenses]))
 
 
 #_{:clj-kondo/ignore [:clojure-lsp/unused-public-var]}
@@ -26,7 +27,7 @@
   #_(when (= (data :specification) "clojure.spec")
       {:clojure-spec true})
 
-  nil) ; returning nil means no changes to options data
+  (licenses/id->license (:license/id data)))
 
 
 #_{:clj-kondo/ignore [:clojure-lsp/unused-public-var]}
diff --git a/src/practicalli/landing_page.clj b/src/practicalli/landing_page.clj
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
   "Programmatic transformation of template substitution data
   and declarative transformation rules"
   (:require
-   [clojure.pprint :as print]))
+   [clojure.pprint :as print]
+   [practicalli.licenses :as licenses]))
 
 
 #_{:clj-kondo/ignore [:clojure-lsp/unused-public-var]}
@@ -28,7 +29,7 @@
   #_(when (= (data :specification) "clojure.spec")
       {:clojure-spec true})
 
-  nil) ; returning nil means no changes to options data
+  (licenses/id->license (:license/id data)))
 
 
 #_{:clj-kondo/ignore [:clojure-lsp/unused-public-var]}
diff --git a/src/practicalli/licenses.clj b/src/practicalli/licenses.clj
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+(ns practicalli.licenses
+  "Light wrapper around the [clj-spdx](https://github.com/pmonks/clj-spdx)
+  library to access the license repository managed by [SPDX](https://spdx.dev/)."
+  (:require [clojure.string :as str]
+            [spdx.licenses :as sl]))
+
+;; Initializes persistent local cache, which may take some time the first time.
+;; Local cache is stored in the user cache directory (i.e.
+;; `${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/Spdx-Java-Library` or `${HOME}/.cache/Spdx-Java-Library`)
+;; Normally not needed, will be lazily created, but still worth mentioning here
+;; in case there is a need to load it at a specific time.
+;(sl/init!)
+
+(defn id->license
+  "Retrieve from [SPDX](https://spdx.dev/) the full info and text of a license
+  identified with the given string `id`, or `nil` of not found.
+  If `id` is not provided it defaults to `\"EPL-1.0\"`, a license typically
+  used in clojure projects.
+  Other popular licenses are `\"MIT\"`, `\"Apache-2.0\"`, `\"EPL-2.0\"`, or any
+  identifier found in the [SPDX license list](https://spdx.org/licenses/).
+  Returns a map with the following entries:
+    - `:license/id`, the identifier given as argument
+    - `:license/name`, the name of the license
+    - `:license/url`, the URL associated with the license
+    - `:license/text`, the full text of the license
+  "
+  ([] (id->license nil))
+  ([id]
+   (let [id (if (str/blank? id) "EPL-1.0" id)
+         {:keys [id name text see-also]}
+         (sl/id->info id {:include-large-text-values? true})
+         missing (fn [fieldname]
+                   (format "*(No %s for %s in SPDX)*" fieldname id))]
+     (when id
+       {:license/id   id
+        :license/name (or name             (missing "name"))
+        :license/url  (or (first see-also) (missing "URL"))
+        :license/text (or text             (missing "text"))}))))
diff --git a/src/practicalli/minimal.clj b/src/practicalli/minimal.clj
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@
 
 (ns practicalli.minimal
   "Programmatic transformation of template substitution data
-  and declarative transformation rules")
+  and declarative transformation rules"
+  (:require [practicalli.licenses :as pl]))
 
 #_{:clj-kondo/ignore [:clojure-lsp/unused-public-var]}
 (defn substitutions
@@ -25,7 +26,7 @@
   #_(when (= (data :specification) "clojure.spec")
       {:clojure-spec true})
 
-  nil) ; returning nil means no changes to options data
+  (pl/id->license (:license/id data)))
 
 #_{:clj-kondo/ignore [:clojure-lsp/unused-public-var]}
 (defn template-edn
diff --git a/src/practicalli/service.clj b/src/practicalli/service.clj
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
   "Programmatic transformation of template data transformation rules"
   (:require
    [clojure.pprint :as pprint]
-   [practicalli.rules :as rules]))
+   [practicalli.rules :as rules]
+   [practicalli.licenses :as licenses]))
 
 #_{:clj-kondo/ignore [:clojure-lsp/unused-public-var]}
 (defn substitutions
@@ -22,12 +23,14 @@
   Return:
   - hash-map to be merged into the existing substitution data"
   [data]
+
   ;; Simple example:
   #_(when (= (data :component) "integrant")
       {:integrant-repl true})
   ;; (println "Calculating substitutions...")
   ;; (pprint/pprint data)
-  nil) ; returning nil means no changes to options data
+
+  (licenses/id->license (:license/id data)))
 
 #_{:clj-kondo/ignore [:clojure-lsp/unused-public-var]}
 (defn template-edn

Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
@@ -140,4 +140,4 @@ Or build and run the service via the multi-stage `Dockerfile` configuration as p
`140`	`140`
`141`	`141`	`Copyright © {{now/year}} {{developer}}`
`142`	`142`
`143`		`-[Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/")`
	`143`	`+[{{license/name}}]({{license/url}})`
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -62,4 +62,4 @@ make dist`
`62`	`62`
`63`	`63`	`Copyright © 2023 {{developer}}`
`64`	`64`
`65`		`-Distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International`
	`65`	`+[{{license/name}}]({{license/url}})`
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
@@ -142,4 +142,4 @@ Or build and run the service via the multi-stage `Dockerfile` configuration as p
`142`	`142`
`143`	`143`	`Copyright © {{now/year}} {{developer}}`
`144`	`144`
`145`		`-[Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/")`
	`145`	`+[{{license/name}}]({{license/url}})`