repolicense-cli

A command-line tool to help you choose the right open-source license for your project, implemented in Zig.

This is a CLI version of repolicense, which guides you through a series of questions to determine the most suitable license for your needs.

Features

• Interactive question-and-answer interface
• Navigate forward and backward through the decision tree
• Reset at any time to start over
• Get detailed information about each license
• Links to GitHub API for license details
• NEW: License compatibility checker for forking projects This feature allows you to input a list of existing licenses and find out which licenses are compatible with all of them when combining code from multiple projects.

Prerequisites

• Zig version 0.15.2 or later

Building

zig build

Running

After building, run the executable:

./zig-out/bin/repolicense

Or build and run in one command:

zig build run

License Compatibility

To check which licenses you can use when forking or combining projects:

./zig-out/bin/repolicense --compat

This mode helps you determine compatible licenses when you want to combine code from multiple projects with different licenses.

Usage

License Selection Mode (Default)

The tool will ask you a series of yes/no questions about your project requirements. Based on your answers, it will recommend an appropriate open-source license.

Available commands:

• yes or y - Answer yes to the current question
• no or n - Answer no to the current question
• back or b - Go back to the previous question
• reset or r - Start over from the beginning
• quit or q - Exit the program

License Compatibility Mode

Run with the --compat flag (or -c) to check license compatibility:

./zig-out/bin/repolicense --compat

This mode allows you to:

• Enter a comma-separated list of licenses from projects you want to combine
• See which licenses are compatible with all of them
• Understand why certain combinations are compatible or not

Example:

Enter licenses: MIT, Apache-2.0
You can use any of these licenses for your combined work:
  • MIT
  • BSD-2-Clause
  • Apache-2.0
  • GPL-3.0
  ...

Supported Licenses

The tool helps you choose from the following licenses:

• Permissive: MIT, BSD-2-Clause, BSD-3-Clause, Apache-2.0, 0BSD, ISC
• Copyleft: GPL-2.0, GPL-3.0, AGPL-3.0, LGPL-3.0, MPL-2.0, EPL-1.0, EPL-2.0
• Public Domain: Unlicense
• Specialized: OFL-1.1 (for fonts)

ℹ️ Note:
If you wish to add more licenses, please submit a Pull Request with the new license details and update the decision tree accordingly.

Testing

Run the test suite:

zig build test

The test suite includes:

• Decision tree structure validation
• License compatibility logic tests
• Navigation and path verification

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request and follow the guidelines in CONTRIBUTING.md.

Acknowledgments

Based on the original repolicense web application.