Whisker In 5 Minutes

Apache Whisker is based around meta-data describing the licensing qualities of documents included within complex software distributions. Whisker just helps to maintain information more efficiently, and is no substitute for solid legal work. Learn about copyright and software licensing here.

For this example, we'll create meta-data for a simple MIT licensed project. This illustrates any project where a NOTICE is not (necessarily) required.

If this isn't quite what you're looking for, take a look at other examples which

or dive into sample meta-data:

If you're using an IDE then see the meta data reference for a DTD.

If you have any questions, please try the FAQ before asking on the mail lists.

Basic Structure

Each license, notice and organisation is described once above, and then referenced by id below. Start with the outline.

<manifest>
    <!-- Definitions -->
    <licenses/>
    <notices/>
    <organisations/>
    <primary-license/>
    <primary-notice/>
    <primary-organisation/>

    <!-- Contents -->
    <within dir='.'/>
</manifest>

Primary Definitions

Add The Primary License

Licenses should be entered once into the licenses section (at the top), and then referenced by id.

This project is MIT licensed, so a description of this license needs to be added into licenses. Choose a name suitable for display, pick an id and give an url. Note the id chosen since this will be used a little later. The MIT license isn't a family, so the text contains just the plain license text (without parameters). We end up with something like

<manifest>
    <licenses>
        <license
            name='MIT License'
            id='osi:mit'
            url='http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php'>
            <text>
Permission is hereby granted, free  of charge, to any person obtaining
a  copy  of this  software  and  associated  documentation files  (the
"Software"), to  deal in  the Software without  restriction, including
without limitation  the rights to  use, copy, modify,  merge, publish,
distribute,  sublicense, and/or sell  copies of  the Software,  and to
permit persons to whom the Software  is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:

The  above  copyright  notice  and  this permission  notice  shall  be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE  SOFTWARE IS  PROVIDED  "AS  IS", WITHOUT  WARRANTY  OF ANY  KIND,
EXPRESS OR  IMPLIED, INCLUDING  BUT NOT LIMITED  TO THE  WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY,    FITNESS    FOR    A   PARTICULAR    PURPOSE    AND
NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE,  ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
            </text>
        </license>
    </licenses>
    ...

By primary license we mean the main license for the project, covering most of the original resources contributed to the distribution by the project. Reference this by id in primary-license. For our example, we set the id attribute to the id - osi:mit - we picked earlier. Conventionally, a copyright notice is positioned above the MIT license text. So we need to add a primary copyright notice (Copyright (c) 3535 Someone, let's say).

<manifest>
    ...
    <primary-license id='osi:mit'>
        <copyright-notice>Copyright (c) 3535 Someone</copyright-notice>
    </primary-license>
    ...
</manifest>

Unlike the Apache License, Version 2 (for example), the MIT License does not have a NOTICE retention clause. So, there is no need for a primary-notice to be defined.

<manifest>
    ...
    <notices/>
    ...
    <primary-notice/>
    ...
</manifest>

Add The Primary Organisation

Individual maintainers, informal groups, for- and non-profit corporations are all modeled by Whisker as organisations. Read more here. Let's assume that our example project is maintained by - and licensed from - the (hypothetical) Hypothetical Example Foundation, whose domain is example.org.

This organisation needs to be added into organisations. We fill in name and url, and pick an id (which we'll need to refer to just a little later).

    ...
    <organisations>
        <organisation
            id='example.org'
            name='The Hypothetical Example Foundation'
            url='http://www.example.org'/>
    </organisations>
    ...

Find the primary-organisation lower in the document, and set the id attribute.

    ...
    <primary-organisation id='example.org'/>
    ...

Contents

Meta-data links the contents of a software distribution with its licensing definitions. This allows Whisker to, for example, generate licensing document and check that every document included is expected.

Contents are described by directory. The resources within each directory are grouped with-license then by-organisation. Directories are modeled by a flat list of within elements.

Work through the distribution, one directory at a time. Let's say our distribution is laid out like this:

  --|- one.txt
    |- two.html
    |- three.py
    |
    |-alpha-|- five.js
    |       |- six.rb
    |       |- seven.coffee
    |
    |-beta--|- eight.java

The root directory of the distribution is denoted by '.', and let's say that its contents (one.txt, two.html and three.py) are all licensed from the primary organisation (example.org) using the primary license (MIT). Whisker makes no assumptions about license or organisation, whether primary or not. Every resource is added by-organisation and with-license, referred to by id.

    ...
    <within dir='.'>
        <with-license id='osi:mit'>
            <by-organisation id='example.org'>
                <resource name='one.text'/>
                <resource name='two.html'/>
                <resource name='three.py'/>
            </by-organisation>
        </with-license>
    </within>
</manifest>

In directory alpha, let's say that five.js and six.rb are similar (MIT licensed by example.org) to those above. We add these immediately.

    ...
    <within dir='alpha'>
        <with-license id='osi:mit'>
            <by-organisation id='example.org'>
                <resource name='five.js'/>
                <resource name='six.rb'/>
            </by-organisation>
            ...

Let's say that seven.coffee is a third party resource included within the software distribution. To illustrate how to add a third party resource sharing the primary license, let's say that seven.coffee is licensed under the primary (MIT) license from the Apache Software Foundation. After checking that details haven't already been added for apache.org, we add an organisation and refer to it by-organisation containing the resource.

    ...
    <organisations>
        ...
        <organisation
            id='apache.org'
            name='Apache Software Foundation'
            url='http://www.apache.org'/>
    </organisations>
    ...
    <within dir='alpha'>
        <with-license id='osi:mit'>
            <by-organisation id='example.org'>
                <resource name='five.js '/>
                <resource name='six.rb'/>
            </by-organisation>
            <by-organisation id='apache.org'>
                <resource name='seven.coffee'/>
            </by-organisation>
        </with-license>
    </within>
</manifest>

Finally, let's say that directory beta contains only eight.java, again from apache.org but licensed this time under the Apache License, Version 2, which is the standard license for Apache software.

After checking that this license isn't already in licenses, we add the license details and note the id we chose - in this case osi:AL2.

    ...
    <licenses>
        ...
        <license
            name='Apache License, Version 2'
            id='osi:AL2'
            url='http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.txt'>
<text>
                                 Apache License
                           Version 2.0, January 2004
                        http://www.apache.org/licenses/

   TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION

   1. Definitions.

      "License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
      and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.

      "Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
      the copyright owner that is granting the License.

      "Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
      other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
      control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
      "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
      direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
      otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
      outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.

      "You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity
      exercising permissions granted by this License.

      "Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
      including but not limited to software source code, documentation
      source, and configuration files.

      "Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
      transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
      not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
      and conversions to other media types.

      "Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or
      Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a
      copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work
      (an example is provided in the Appendix below).

      "Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object
      form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
      editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
      represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
      of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
      separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
      the Work and Derivative Works thereof.

      "Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including
      the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions
      to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally
      submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner
      or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of
      the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted"
      means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent
      to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to
      communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems,
      and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the
      Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but
      excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise
      designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."

      "Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity
      on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
      subsequently incorporated within the Work.

   2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
      copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
      publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
      Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.

   3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
      (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
      use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
      where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
      by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
      Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
      with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
      institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
      cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work
      or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct
      or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
      granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate
      as of the date such litigation is filed.

   4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
      Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
      modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
      meet the following conditions:

      (a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or
          Derivative Works a copy of this License; and

      (b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
          stating that You changed the files; and

      (c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
          that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
          attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
          excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
          the Derivative Works; and

      (d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its
          distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must
          include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained
          within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not
          pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one
          of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
          as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
          documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
          within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
          wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
          of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
          do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
          notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
          or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
          that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
          as modifying the License.

      You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and
      may provide additional or different license terms and conditions
      for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or
      for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use,
      reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with
      the conditions stated in this License.

   5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,
      any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
      by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
      this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
      Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
      the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
      with Licensor regarding such Contributions.

   6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
      names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
      except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
      origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.

   7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or
      agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
      Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
      WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
      implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
      of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
      PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
      appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any
      risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.

   8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
      whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
      unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
      negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
      liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
      incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a
      result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
      Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
      work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all
      other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor
      has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

   9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing
      the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
      and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
      or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
      License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
      on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf
      of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
      defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
      incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
      of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.

   END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
</text>
        </license>
        ...

The beta directory in our distribution contains only the resource eight.java by apache.org licensed under the Apache License, Version 2. For this example, we will assume that no NOTICE is required. So we're ready now to complete the meta-data.

    ...
    <within dir='beta'>
        <with-license id='osi:AL2'>
            <by-organisation id='apache.org'>
                <resource name='eight.java'/>
            </by-organisation>
        </with-license>
    </within>
</manifest>

And Finally

We end up with this meta-data (open as an annotated sample):

<manifest>
    <licenses>
        <license name='MIT License' id='osi:mit'
            url='http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php'>
            <text>
Permission is hereby granted, free  of charge, to any person obtaining
a  copy  of this  software  and  associated  documentation files  (the
"Software"), to  deal in  the Software without  restriction, including
without limitation  the rights to  use, copy, modify,  merge, publish,
distribute,  sublicense, and/or sell  copies of  the Software,  and to
permit persons to whom the Software  is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:

The  above  copyright  notice  and  this permission  notice  shall  be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE  SOFTWARE IS  PROVIDED  "AS  IS", WITHOUT  WARRANTY  OF ANY  KIND,
EXPRESS OR  IMPLIED, INCLUDING  BUT NOT LIMITED  TO THE  WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY,    FITNESS    FOR    A   PARTICULAR    PURPOSE    AND
NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE,  ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
            </text>
        </license>
         <license
            name='Apache License, Version 2'
            id='osi:AL2'
            url='http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.txt'>
<text>
                                 Apache License
                           Version 2.0, January 2004
                        http://www.apache.org/licenses/

   TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION

   1. Definitions.

      "License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
      and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.

      "Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
      the copyright owner that is granting the License.

      "Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
      other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
      control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
      "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
      direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
      otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
      outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.

      "You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity
      exercising permissions granted by this License.

      "Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
      including but not limited to software source code, documentation
      source, and configuration files.

      "Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
      transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
      not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
      and conversions to other media types.

      "Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or
      Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a
      copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work
      (an example is provided in the Appendix below).

      "Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object
      form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
      editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
      represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
      of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
      separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
      the Work and Derivative Works thereof.

      "Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including
      the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions
      to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally
      submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner
      or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of
      the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted"
      means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent
      to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to
      communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems,
      and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the
      Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but
      excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise
      designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."

      "Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity
      on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
      subsequently incorporated within the Work.

   2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
      copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
      publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
      Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.

   3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
      (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
      use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
      where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
      by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
      Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
      with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
      institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
      cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work
      or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct
      or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
      granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate
      as of the date such litigation is filed.

   4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
      Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
      modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
      meet the following conditions:

      (a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or
          Derivative Works a copy of this License; and

      (b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
          stating that You changed the files; and

      (c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
          that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
          attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
          excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
          the Derivative Works; and

      (d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its
          distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must
          include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained
          within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not
          pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one
          of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
          as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
          documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
          within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
          wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
          of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
          do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
          notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
          or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
          that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
          as modifying the License.

      You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and
      may provide additional or different license terms and conditions
      for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or
      for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use,
      reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with
      the conditions stated in this License.

   5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,
      any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
      by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
      this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
      Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
      the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
      with Licensor regarding such Contributions.

   6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
      names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
      except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
      origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.

   7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or
      agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
      Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
      WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
      implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
      of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
      PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
      appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any
      risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.

   8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
      whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
      unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
      negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
      liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
      incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a
      result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
      Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
      work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all
      other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor
      has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

   9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing
      the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
      and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
      or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
      License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
      on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf
      of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
      defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
      incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
      of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.

   END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
</text>
        </license>
    </licenses>
    <notices/>
    <organisations>
        <organisation
            id='example.org'
            name='The Hypothetical Example Foundation'
            url='http://www.example.org'/>
        <organisation
            id='apache.org'
            name='Apache Software Foundation'
            url='http://www.apache.org'/>
    </organisations>
    <primary-license id='osi:mit'>
        <copyright-notice>Copyright (c) 3535 Someone</copyright-notice>
    </primary-license>
    <primary-notice/>
    <primary-organisation id='example.org'/>
    <within dir='.'>
        <with-license id='osi:mit'>
            <by-organisation id='example.org'>
                <resource name='one.text'/>
                <resource name='two.html'/>
                <resource name='three.py'/>
            </by-organisation>
        </with-license>
    </within>
    <within dir='alpha'>
        <with-license id='osi:mit'>
            <by-organisation id='example.org'>
                <resource name='five.js '/>
                <resource name='six.rb'/>
            </by-organisation>
            <by-organisation id='apache.org'>
                <resource name='seven.coffee'/>
            </by-organisation>
        </with-license>
    </within>
    <within dir='beta'>
        <with-license id='osi:AL2'>
            <by-organisation id='apache.org'>
                <resource name='eight.java'/>
            </by-organisation>
        </with-license>
    </within>
</manifest>

From this meta-data, Whisker (either from the command line or integrated into a Maven build) generates a LICENSE similar to:

Copyright (c) 3535 Someone


Permission is hereby granted, free  of charge, to any person obtaining
a  copy  of this  software  and  associated  documentation files  (the
"Software"), to  deal in  the Software without  restriction, including
without limitation  the rights to  use, copy, modify,  merge, publish,
distribute,  sublicense, and/or sell  copies of  the Software,  and to
permit persons to whom the Software  is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:

The  above  copyright  notice  and  this permission  notice  shall  be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE  SOFTWARE IS  PROVIDED  "AS  IS", WITHOUT  WARRANTY  OF ANY  KIND,
EXPRESS OR  IMPLIED, INCLUDING  BUT NOT LIMITED  TO THE  WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY,    FITNESS    FOR    A   PARTICULAR    PURPOSE    AND
NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE,  ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.


This distribution contains third party resources.
Within the alpha directory
    licensed under the MIT License http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php  (as above)
        from Apache Software Foundation  http://www.apache.org
            seven.coffee

Within the beta directory
    licensed under the Apache License, Version 2 http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.txt  (as follows)


                                             Apache License
                                       Version 2.0, January 2004
                                    http://www.apache.org/licenses/

               TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION

               1. Definitions.

                  "License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
                  and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.

                  "Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
                  the copyright owner that is granting the License.

                  "Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
                  other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
                  control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
                  "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
                  direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
                  otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
                  outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.

                  "You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity
                  exercising permissions granted by this License.

                  "Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
                  including but not limited to software source code, documentation
                  source, and configuration files.

                  "Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
                  transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
                  not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
                  and conversions to other media types.

                  "Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or
                  Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a
                  copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work
                  (an example is provided in the Appendix below).

                  "Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object
                  form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
                  editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
                  represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
                  of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
                  separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
                  the Work and Derivative Works thereof.

                  "Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including
                  the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions
                  to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally
                  submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner
                  or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of
                  the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted"
                  means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent
                  to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to
                  communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems,
                  and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the
                  Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but
                  excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise
                  designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."

                  "Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity
                  on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
                  subsequently incorporated within the Work.

               2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
                  this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
                  worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
                  copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
                  publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
                  Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.

               3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
                  this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
                  worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
                  (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
                  use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
                  where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
                  by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
                  Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
                  with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
                  institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
                  cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work
                  or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct
                  or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
                  granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate
                  as of the date such litigation is filed.

               4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
                  Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
                  modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
                  meet the following conditions:

                  (a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or
                      Derivative Works a copy of this License; and

                  (b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
                      stating that You changed the files; and

                  (c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
                      that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
                      attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
                      excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
                      the Derivative Works; and

                  (d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its
                      distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must
                      include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained
                      within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not
                      pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one
                      of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
                      as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
                      documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
                      within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
                      wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
                      of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
                      do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
                      notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
                      or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
                      that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
                      as modifying the License.

                  You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and
                  may provide additional or different license terms and conditions
                  for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or
                  for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use,
                  reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with
                  the conditions stated in this License.

               5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,
                  any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
                  by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
                  this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
                  Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
                  the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
                  with Licensor regarding such Contributions.

               6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
                  names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
                  except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
                  origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.

               7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or
                  agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
                  Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
                  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
                  implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
                  of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
                  PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
                  appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any
                  risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.

               8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
                  whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
                  unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
                  negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
                  liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
                  incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a
                  result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
                  Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
                  work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all
                  other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor
                  has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

               9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing
                  the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
                  and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
                  or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
                  License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
                  on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf
                  of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
                  defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
                  incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
                  of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.

               END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
        from Apache Software Foundation  http://www.apache.org
            eight.java