diff --git a/dev/.rat-excludes b/dev/.rat-excludes
index 6dbaa6fccdc5..8d38fc62cc1f 100644
--- a/dev/.rat-excludes
+++ b/dev/.rat-excludes
@@ -5,31 +5,31 @@ iceberg-build.properties
 .java-version
 books.json
 new-books.json
-build
+**/build/**
 .gitignore
-.git
-.gradle
-.idea
-.rat-excludes
-LICENSE
-NOTICE
-revapi.yml
+.git/**
+.gradle/**
+.idea/**
+dev/.rat-excludes
+**/LICENSE
+**/NOTICE
+**/revapi.yml
 gradlew
-examples/*
-gradle/*
-.*\.sql
-.*\.iml
-.*\.iws
-.*\.html
-.*\.css
-.*\.js
-.*\.svg
-.*\.lock
-.*\.json
-.*\.bin
-.*\.prefs
-package-list
+examples/**
+gradle/**
+**/*.sql
+**/*.iml
+**/*.iws
+**/*.html
+**/*.css
+**/*.js
+**/*.svg
+**/*.lock
+**/*.json
+**/*.bin
+**/*.prefs
+**/package-list
 sitemap.xml
-derby.log
+**/derby.log
 .python-version
-.*_index.md
+**/*_index.md
diff --git a/dev/check-license b/dev/check-license
index e929e68bf93c..c29be7c4bded 100755
--- a/dev/check-license
+++ b/dev/check-license
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ else
     declare java_cmd=java
 fi
 
-export RAT_VERSION=0.16.1
+export RAT_VERSION=0.17
 export rat_jar="$FWDIR"/lib/apache-rat-${RAT_VERSION}.jar
 mkdir -p "$FWDIR"/lib
 
@@ -67,20 +67,11 @@ mkdir -p "$FWDIR"/lib
     exit 1
 }
 
-mkdir -p build
-$java_cmd -jar "$rat_jar" --scan-hidden-directories -E "$FWDIR"/dev/.rat-excludes -d "$FWDIR" > build/rat-results.txt
+$java_cmd -jar "$rat_jar" \
+  --input-exclude-file "$FWDIR"/dev/.rat-excludes \
+  --input-include-std HIDDEN_DIR \
+  --output-style missing-headers \
+  --log-level ERROR \
+  -- "$FWDIR" || exit 1
 
-if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
-   echo "RAT exited abnormally"
-   exit 1
-fi
-
-ERRORS="$(cat build/rat-results.txt | grep -e "??")"
-
-if test ! -z "$ERRORS"; then 
-    echo "Could not find Apache license headers in the following files:"
-    echo "$ERRORS"
-    exit 1
-else 
-    echo -e "RAT checks passed."
-fi
+echo "RAT checks passed."