--- title: Keeping Track of Open Source Software Licenses | daily.dev description: A startup shares its experience tracking open source software license compliance, explaining the difference between permissive and copyleft (protective)... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/keeping-track-of-open-source-software-licenses-wajbr1uud twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Keeping Track of Open Source Software Licenses | daily.dev og:description: A startup shares its experience tracking open source software license compliance, explaining the difference between permissive and copyleft (protective)... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/keeping-track-of-open-source-software-licenses-wajbr1uud og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/WaJBR1uUd.png og:image:alt: Keeping Track of Open Source Software Licenses og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Keeping Track of Open Source Software Licenses **[Teleport](https://daily.dev/sources/teleport)** · 7 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A startup shares its experience tracking open source software license compliance, explaining the difference between permissive and copyleft (protective) licenses and why license issues can derail acquisitions or major deals. The post recommends reviewing licenses early, consulting a lawyer, and offers a script (licensinator) for scanning and categorizing FOSS licenses in a codebase. It also mentions third-party services like WhiteSource, Blackduck, and FOSSA that automate license compliance checks. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why do open source licenses matter for a startup planning to get acquired? Acquirers perform intellectual property due diligence before completing a deal, and if a startup is found infringing on open source license terms, the acquirer may refuse to proceed until the issue is resolved. This risk grows as a company becomes more successful and visible, making early license review important rather than waiting until a deal is at stake. _daily.dev surfaces open source licensing pitfalls before they threaten a funding round or acquisition._ ### What is the difference between permissive and copyleft open source licenses? Permissive licenses let you use and redistribute code freely, sometimes requiring only that you credit the original copyright holder. Copyleft (protective) licenses impose additional requirements, commonly forcing you to license your resulting codebase under the same terms, which is why they're sometimes called viral licenses. Among the top five most popular licenses, the GNU licenses are copyleft. _developers weighing license trade-offs can track copyleft versus permissive debates on daily.dev._ ### How can I scan my codebase's dependencies for open source license compliance? A github-hosted tool called licensinator scans a repository for license files and categorizes them via fuzzy matching, substantially cutting down manual review time. After an automated scan, manual review is still recommended to catch matching errors. Third-party services like WhiteSource, Blackduck, and FOSSA offer similar scanning plus policy enforcement and issue-tracker integrations. _daily.dev helps engineers keep tabs on license-scanning tools before compliance issues pile up._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I changed my license to EUPL](https://daily.dev/posts/i-changed-my-license-to-eupl-e05ojnm7q) · Lobsters · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Stopping bad guys from using my open source project \(feedback wanted\)](https://daily.dev/posts/stopping-bad-guys-from-using-my-open-source-project-feedback-wanted--n2zh82ro8) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Dealing with Incomplete Copyleft Source That Doesn't Correspond](https://daily.dev/posts/dealing-with-incomplete-copyleft-source-that-doesn-t-correspond-jshydfo0c) · Software Freedom Conservancy · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [What is the MIT License? Compliance and Comparisons](https://daily.dev/posts/what-is-the-mit-license-compliance-and-comparisons-0rogkc32d) · Orca Security Blog · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Open source license compliance is in public preview](https://daily.dev/posts/open-source-license-compliance-is-in-public-preview-6wktoq4g8) · GitHub Changelog · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#compliance](https://daily.dev/tags/compliance), [#licensing](https://daily.dev/tags/licensing) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/keeping-track-of-open-source-software-licenses-wajbr1uud) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Keeping Track of Open Source Software Licenses","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/keeping-track-of-open-source-software-licenses-wajbr1uud","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/keeping-track-of-open-source-software-licenses-wajbr1uud"},"datePublished":"2026-08-23T12:19:47.594Z","dateModified":"2026-08-23T12:37:05.200Z","description":"A startup shares its experience tracking open source software license compliance, explaining the difference between permissive and copyleft (protective)...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--58gMhC4P--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2012","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--58gMhC4P--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2012","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Teleport","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Teleport","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--Dw-Bbw6O--/c_limit,w_256/f_auto,q_auto/v1787487494/logos/teleport?_a=BAMAMicg0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/teleport"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/keeping-track-of-open-source-software-licenses-wajbr1uud","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"open-source,compliance,licensing","timeRequired":"PT7M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Teleport","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/teleport"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Keeping Track of Open Source Software Licenses"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/keeping-track-of-open-source-software-licenses-wajbr1uud#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why do open source licenses matter for a startup planning to get acquired?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Acquirers perform intellectual property due diligence before completing a deal, and if a startup is found infringing on open source license terms, the acquirer may refuse to proceed until the issue is resolved. 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