REUSE(1)                             reuse                            REUSE(1)

NAME
       reuse - A tool for compliance with the REUSE recommendations

SYNOPSIS
       reuse [options] <command>

DESCRIPTION
       reuse is a helper tool for the REUSE initiative. Its main functionality
       in reuse-lint(1) <https://reuse.readthedocs.io/en/v6.2.0/man/reuse-lint
       .html> is to verify whether a project is compliant with the REUSE
       Specification. It also contains an array of convenience functions to
       enable developers to become compliant.

       For more information on how to use reuse beyond a reference of the
       command-line options, see the accompanying documentation or read it at
       <https://reuse.readthedocs.io>. For further information about REUSE,
       see <https://reuse.software>.

DETAILS
       When searching for copyright and licensing tags inside of files, the
       tool does not strictly limit itself to the header comment as prescribed
       by the specification. It searches the entire file for REUSE
       information, whether in comments or not. This makes sure that the tool
       can parse any type of plain-text file, even if the comment style is not
       recognised.

       The tool does not verify the correctness of copyright notices. If it
       finds any line containing '(C)', 'Copyright', or
       'SPDX-FileCopyrightText:', then the tag and everything following it is
       considered a valid copyright notice, even if the copyright notice is
       not compliant with the specification.

OPTIONS

       --debug
              Enable debug logging.

       --suppress-deprecation
              Hide deprecation warnings.

       --include-submodules
              Do not ignore Git submodules; they are treated as though they
              are part of the project. This is not strictly compliant with the
              specification.

       --include-meson-subprojects
              Do not ignore Meson subprojects (i.e. the subprojects directory
              in the root of the project); they are treated as though they are
              part of the project.  This is not strictly compliant with the
              specification.

       --no-multiprocessing
              Disable multiprocessing performance enhancer. This may be useful
              when debugging.

       --root PATH
              Set the root of the project to PATH. Normally this defaults to
              the root of the current working directory's VCS repository, or
              to the current working directory.

       --help Display help and exit. If no command is provided, this option is
              implied.

       --version
              Display the version and exit.

ENVIRONMENT
       reuse respects the following environment variables.

       REUSE_ENCODING_MODULE
              Instead of automatically picking the best module to detect the
              encodings of files, reuse will use the module defined here. Its
              value must be python-magic, file-magic, charset_normalizer, or
              chardet.

COMMANDS

       reuse-annotate(1) <https://reuse.readthedocs.io/en/v6.2.0/man/
       reuse-annotate.html>
              Add REUSE information to files.

       reuse-convert-dep5(1) <https://reuse.readthedocs.io/en/v6.2.0/man/
       reuse-convert-dep5.html>
              Convert .reuse/dep5 to REUSE.toml.

       reuse-download(1) <https://reuse.readthedocs.io/en/v6.2.0/man/
       reuse-download.html>
              Download license files.

       reuse-lint(1) <https://reuse.readthedocs.io/en/v6.2.0/man/reuse-lint
       .html> Verify whether a project is compliant with the REUSE
              Specification.

       reuse-lint-file(1) <https://reuse.readthedocs.io/en/v6.2.0/man/
       reuse-lint-file.html>
              Verify whether individual files are compliant with the REUSE
              Specification.

       reuse-spdx(1) <https://reuse.readthedocs.io/en/v6.2.0/man/reuse-spdx
       .html> Generate SPDX bill of materials.

       reuse-supported-licenses(1) <https://reuse.readthedocs.io/en/v6.2.0/
       man/reuse-supported-licenses.html>
              Print a list of supported licenses.

Author
       Free Software Foundation Europe

Copyright
       2017, Free Software Foundation Europe. CC-BY-SA-4.0

6.2.0                          October 27, 2025                       REUSE(1)