Filesystem Integration

license-maven-plugin-fs extends the plugin with properties derived from the filesystem modification time of each file. This is the simplest SCM integration — it requires no repository access and works in any environment.

Properties Added

Property	Description
license.fs.copyrightLastYear	Year of the last filesystem modification time of the file
license.fs.copyrightYears	inceptionYear–lastYear range, or just inceptionYear if they are equal

Setup

Add license-maven-plugin-fs as a dependency to the plugin:

<plugin>
  <groupId>com.mycila</groupId>
  <artifactId>license-maven-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>5.0.0</version>
  <configuration>
    <licenseSets>
      <licenseSet>
        <inlineHeader><![CDATA[
Copyright ${license.fs.copyrightYears} ${owner}

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0
]]></inlineHeader>
        <properties>
          <owner>Acme Corp</owner>
        </properties>
      </licenseSet>
    </licenseSets>
  </configuration>
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.mycila</groupId>
      <artifactId>license-maven-plugin-fs</artifactId>
      <version>5.0.0</version>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</plugin>

Template Usage

Copyright ${license.fs.copyrightYears} Acme Corp

For a project with inceptionYear 1999 and a file last modified in 2024:

Copyright 1999-2024 Acme Corp

When to Use This Integration

The filesystem integration is a good choice when:

• Your project is not under version control
• You do not need author information
• You want a simple, dependency-free approach to year ranges

For projects under Git or SVN, the Git or SVN integration provides more accurate and meaningful year values tied to commit history rather than filesystem timestamps (which can be affected by file copies, checkouts, etc.).