PURL2NOTICES - Package URL to Legal Notices Generator

Generate comprehensive legal notices and attribution documentation from Package URLs (PURLs). Automatically extracts copyright and license information from packages across 12+ ecosystems, producing customizable text and HTML output for compliance documentation.

Features

• Multi-Format Input: Process PURLs, archives (JAR/WAR/WHL), directories, and cache files
• 12+ Ecosystem Support: NPM, PyPI, Maven, Cargo, Go, NuGet, Conda, and more
• Smart License Detection: Multiple engines (purl2src, upmex, osslili) for accurate extraction
• SEMCL.ONE Integration: Works seamlessly with src2purl, osslili, and ecosystem tools

Installation

pip install purl2notices

For development:

git clone https://github.com/SemClone/purl2notices.git
cd purl2notices
pip install -e .

Quick Start

# Generate notices for a single package
purl2notices -i pkg:npm/express@4.0.0

# Process multiple packages from file
purl2notices -i packages.txt -o NOTICE.txt

# Scan directory recursively
purl2notices -i ./src --recursive -o NOTICE.html -f html

Usage

CLI Usage

# Basic notice generation
purl2notices -i pkg:npm/express@4.0.0 -o NOTICE.txt

# Process JAR/WAR archives
purl2notices -i library.jar -o NOTICE.txt

# Scan directory with caching
purl2notices -i ./project --recursive --cache project.cache.json -o NOTICE.txt

# Merge multiple cache files
purl2notices -i cache1.json --merge-cache cache2.json -o combined-NOTICE.txt

# HTML output with custom template
purl2notices -i packages.txt -o NOTICE.html -f html --template custom.jinja2

# Apply license overrides
purl2notices -i packages.txt --overrides custom.json -o NOTICE.txt

Python API

from purl2notices import Purl2Notices
import asyncio

# Initialize processor
processor = Purl2Notices()

# Process single package
package = asyncio.run(processor.process_single_purl("pkg:npm/express@4.0.0"))

# Generate notices
notices = processor.generate_notices([package])
print(notices)

# Custom configuration
processor = Purl2Notices(
    output_format="html",
    template_path="custom_template.jinja2"
)

Supported Input Types

Package URLs (PURLs)

# NPM packages
purl2notices -i pkg:npm/express@4.0.0

# Python packages
purl2notices -i pkg:pypi/django@4.2.0

# Maven artifacts
purl2notices -i pkg:maven/org.apache.commons/commons-lang3@3.12.0

# Multiple PURLs from file
echo "pkg:npm/express@4.0.0" > packages.txt
echo "pkg:pypi/django@4.2.0" >> packages.txt
purl2notices -i packages.txt

Archive Files

# Java archives
purl2notices -i application.jar
purl2notices -i webapp.war

# Python wheels
purl2notices -i package-1.0.0-py3-none-any.whl

# Process multiple archives
purl2notices -i libs/*.jar -o NOTICE.txt

Directories

# Scan current directory
purl2notices -i . -o NOTICE.txt

# Recursive scan with specific patterns
purl2notices -i ./src --recursive --include "*.py" -o NOTICE.txt

# Exclude patterns
purl2notices -i ./project --recursive --exclude "test/*" -o NOTICE.txt

Cache Files

# Use CycloneDX cache
purl2notices -i project.cache.json -o NOTICE.txt

# Merge multiple caches
purl2notices -i cache1.json --merge-cache cache2.json --merge-cache cache3.json

Output Formats

Text Format (Default)

================================================================================
express 4.0.0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (c) 2009-2014 TJ Holowaychuk <tj@vision-media.ca>
Copyright (c) 2013-2014 Roman Shtylman <shtylman+expressjs@gmail.com>
Copyright (c) 2014-2015 Douglas Christopher Wilson <doug@somethingdoug.com>

MIT License
[Full license text...]
================================================================================

HTML Format

# Generate HTML with default template
purl2notices -i packages.txt -o NOTICE.html -f html

# Use custom Jinja2 template
purl2notices -i packages.txt -o NOTICE.html -f html --template custom.jinja2

Configuration

License Overrides

Create a JSON file to override detected licenses:

{
  "pkg:npm/express@4.0.0": {
    "license": "MIT",
    "copyright": "Copyright (c) Express Authors"
  }
}

Apply overrides:

purl2notices -i packages.txt --overrides overrides.json -o NOTICE.txt

Custom Templates

Create custom Jinja2 templates for HTML output:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head><title>Legal Notices</title></head>
<body>
  {% for package in packages %}
    <h2>{{ package.name }} {{ package.version }}</h2>
    <p>{{ package.copyright }}</p>
    <pre>{{ package.license_text }}</pre>
  {% endfor %}
</body>
</html>

Environment Variables

# Set default output format
export PURL2NOTICES_FORMAT=html

# Set default template path
export PURL2NOTICES_TEMPLATE=/path/to/template.jinja2

# Enable debug logging
export PURL2NOTICES_DEBUG=true

Integration with SEMCL.ONE

PURL2NOTICES is a core component of the SEMCL.ONE ecosystem:

• Works with src2purl for package identification from source
• Uses osslili for enhanced license detection
• Integrates with upmex for package metadata extraction
• Complements ospac for policy compliance evaluation
• Supports purl2src for source code retrieval

Complete Workflow Example

# 1. Identify package from source
src2purl ./project > project.purl

# 2. Generate legal notices
purl2notices -i project.purl -o NOTICE.txt

# 3. Validate compliance
ospac evaluate NOTICE.txt --policy compliance.yaml

Advanced Features

Batch Processing

# Process large lists efficiently
purl2notices -i packages.txt --batch-size 20 --workers 4 -o NOTICE.txt

Filtering and Exclusions

# Exclude specific packages
purl2notices -i packages.txt --exclude-purl "pkg:npm/test-*" -o NOTICE.txt

# Include only specific licenses
purl2notices -i packages.txt --include-license MIT --include-license Apache-2.0

Cache Management

# Generate cache for later use
purl2notices -i ./project --recursive --cache-only -o project.cache.json

# Update existing cache
purl2notices -i new-packages.txt --update-cache project.cache.json

# Clear cache
purl2notices --clear-cache

Documentation

• User Guide - Comprehensive usage documentation
• Examples - Detailed examples and use cases
• Configuration - Configuration options and customization

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for details on:

• Code of conduct
• Development setup
• Submitting pull requests
• Reporting issues

Support

For support and questions:

• GitHub Issues - Bug reports and feature requests
• Documentation - Complete project documentation
• SEMCL.ONE Community - Ecosystem support and discussions

License

Apache License 2.0 - see LICENSE file for details.

Authors

See AUTHORS.md for a list of contributors.

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Part of the SEMCL.ONE ecosystem for comprehensive OSS compliance and code analysis.