Beerware is a joke-short grant: do whatever, buy the author a beer if you like. Still keep the SPDX id on the record. Not a substitute for MIT.
On this page
What it does
Poul-Henning Kamp's Beerware license says you may do whatever you want with the code, and if you meet the author you can buy him a beer. There is no notice condition in the usual MIT sense. Procurement still needs an identifier on the inventory. Do not treat Beerware as a reason to drop notices for the rest of the tree.
Pros
- Easy to drop into a closed, paid product. Procurement has seen this family many times.
- No copyleft on your own files. You keep your source private.
Cons
- The notice duty is easy to miss in a desktop, mobile, or container build. A web page is not a substitute for notices inside the artifact.
- Transitive copies in the lockfile count. Listing only direct dependencies leaves notices out.
What it allows and requires
Choose a category to see the full grant in one scannable list. Permissions show what the license allows, limits show what it withholds, and obligations show the conditions your release process must satisfy.
Permissions
Commercial use
You may use the work commercially. These texts are written to drop almost every restriction.
Modify
You may change the work and keep or publish those changes under your own terms.
Distribute
You may give copies away, including inside a closed product, without a copyleft duty.
Limits
Hold liable
The authors disclaim warranty. Recipients cannot hold them liable for damages arising from the software, except where law forbids that disclaimer.
Use trademark
The license is not a trademark license. Names, logos and product marks stay with their owners unless a separate grant says otherwise.
Provenance
A dedication is only as strong as the author's right to make it. If title is unclear, treat the files as needing review.
Policy fit
WTFPL's tone and brevity make some procurement policies reject it even though the grant is extremely wide.
Obligations
Include notice
The text asks for almost nothing. Record the SPDX id anyway so buyers can see which grant you relied on.
What Beerware requires when you ship
When a copy that includes Beerware code leaves your company, the grant is broad and the paperwork is easy to miss. Distribution here means an installer, a mobile binary, a container image, or an SDK another team embeds. Work this list against the artifact you actually hand over, not against a README. A hosted service that never gives out a copy still belongs on the record, but the notice duty does not fire until a copy exists.
You meet the notice condition when each Beerware component's copyright line and license text appear in the material the recipient actually gets.
You are done for a hosted service that never hands out a copy. Running the software for users over a network does not, by itself, trigger a notice duty.
You are covered for a desktop, mobile or on-premise build when the notices sit inside the artifact. An about screen or a bundled licenses file both work.
The duties named in Beerware
The license text itself is short. These are the named conditions. They follow the code, including files you vendor into your own repository and transitive packages in the lockfile.
Include notice
The text asks for almost nothing. Record the SPDX id anyway so buyers can see which grant you relied on.
Things to be aware of
- Reading Beerware as no obligations at all and shipping a binary with no notices in it. Put the notices in the artifact you hand over.
- Deleting the license header when you copy one or two files into your own repository. The condition follows the code, not the package it came in.
What the Beerware License does not do
Search results often flatten Beerware License into a slogan. These are the usual misreads. Beerware is a grant with conditions, not a permission to skip the paperwork below.
- Beerware does not mean no obligations. The copyright line and the license text still have to travel with copies you distribute.
- Beerware does not force you to open your own source. There is no copyleft here unless a later clause in this text says otherwise.
How Beerware differs from nearby licenses
These licenses are often confused with Beerware, but their release duties differ. Each row summarizes what the license requires when you ship. Open the linked page for the full checklist.
- Beerware
- Beerware is a joke-short grant: do whatever, buy the author a beer if you like. Still keep the SPDX id on the record. Not a substitute for MIT.
- WTFPL
- An unlimited permission grant with a joke name. Legally broad, but many procurement policies reject it on sight.
- MIT-0
- MIT-0 is MIT with the copyright notice condition stripped. You may use the code without reproducing the MIT text. Record the SPDX id anyway.
- 0BSD
- BSD with every condition removed: no notice, no credit. It is a permission grant, not a waiver, and that is why counsel like it.
Common questions about Beerware License
Answers to common questions about what Beerware License requires, when its duties apply, and what evidence belongs with a release.
What is the Beerware License?
Poul-Henning Kamp's Beerware license says you may do whatever you want with the code, and if you meet the author you can buy him a beer. There is no notice condition in the usual MIT sense. Procurement still needs an identifier on the inventory. Do not treat Beerware as a reason to drop notices for the rest of the tree.
What does Beerware require when you ship a product?
You meet the notice condition when each Beerware component's copyright line and license text appear in the material the recipient actually gets. You are done for a hosted service that never hands out a copy. Running the software for users over a network does not, by itself, trigger a notice duty. You are covered for a desktop, mobile or on-premise build when the notices sit inside the artifact. An about screen or a bundled licenses file both work.
Does Beerware require me to open my own source?
Beerware does not force you to open your own source. There is no copyleft here unless a later clause in this text says otherwise.
How do I attribute Beerware in a product I ship?
Attribution for Beerware means the copyright line and the license text travel with every copy a recipient actually gets. That can be an about screen, a licenses file inside the installer, or a notice in the container image. A public page helps a buyer audit the inventory. It does not replace notices inside the artifact. If you copied files into your own repository, the header on those files still has to stay.
Is a website notice enough for Beerware?
No. Beerware talks about copies. A public attestation page is the honest list for procurement. The condition is met when the notices sit in the material you hand over. Put them in the installer, the about screen, or a licenses file inside the binary, then keep the same texts on the page.
Do transitive Beerware dependencies count?
Yes. The condition follows the code, not the package you chose by name. If the lockfile pulled in Beerware transitively and you distribute that tree, those notices travel too. Listing only direct dependencies is how teams miss the duty.
How is Beerware different from WTFPL?
Beerware asks this: Beerware is a joke-short grant: do whatever, buy the author a beer if you like. Still keep the SPDX id on the record. Not a substitute for MIT. WTFPL asks this: An unlimited permission grant with a joke name. Legally broad, but many procurement policies reject it on sight. Open the WTFPL page for what that license requires when you ship. Do not treat the SPDX ids as interchangeable because the short names look similar.
Where do I record Beerware for a buyer?
Beerware is a notice license in the catalog, so a component under it needs license text attached before it counts as live on your published page. SourceTrust fetches the published artifact, extracts the license file, and compares that text against the declared SPDX id. A match fills the text in. Every other outcome waits for a person. The stored text is what your page and each export file carry.
Where do I record Beerware for a buyer?
Beerware is a notice license in the catalog, so a component under it needs license text attached before it counts as live on your published page. SourceTrust fetches the published artifact, extracts the license file, and compares that text against the declared SPDX id.
A match fills the text in. Every other outcome waits for a person.
The stored text is what your page and each export file carry. Read /docs/auto-fetch-license for how the fetch works.
See also
The hub is the pillar for this cluster. Sibling licenses are the other spokes. Product FAQ links explain how SourceTrust records the duty, not the license text itself.
Practical guidance for procurement review, not legal advice. Confirm high-stakes use with counsel.