flake8-copyright

What it is and what it does

flake8-copyright is a flake8 plugin that adds copyright-notice checking to your linting workflow. It scans Python files for copyright statements (e.g., 'Copyright 2014' or 'Copyright (C) 2014') using a configurable regular expression and can enforce that a specific author name appears in the notice. You configure it via flake8's standard configuration file, setting options like the minimum file size before a notice is required, the author name to match, and a custom regex pattern if the default doesn't fit your needs.

The plugin integrates directly into flake8's error reporting, emitting C-category errors for files missing the expected copyright statement. It's useful for projects that need to enforce consistent copyright attribution across their codebase. However, the package has been dormant since early 2023 with no recent commits, so it may not be actively maintained or tested against the latest flake8 versions.

Use it for:

• Enforce copyright notices on all Python files in an open-source project to ensure proper attribution.
• Validate that proprietary code includes company copyright statements as part of CI/CD linting.
• Require specific author names in copyright headers to track code ownership across a team.
• Automatically flag files missing copyright notices during code review via flake8 integration.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

A flake8 plugin that enforces the presence of copyright notices in Python files by scanning for copyright statements matching configurable patterns.

Yes, if you need copyright-notice enforcement and can tolerate dormant maintenance. The package is lightweight, has no known vulnerabilities, and integrates cleanly into flake8. However, verify it works with your flake8 version and confirm the license terms before use. If active maintenance and support are important, consider whether a custom linting rule or alternative tool better suits your needs.

Install

flake8-copyright on PyPI

pip install flake8-copyright

uv add flake8-copyright

poetry add flake8-copyright

Installing flake8-copyright

Before you install

Low install friction with only setuptools as a runtime dependency. However, the package is dormant—last release was 2023-02-08 and no commits since 2023-09-18—so expect no active maintenance or bug fixes.

License in practice

License status is unclear; no SPDX identifier or raw license text is available. Verify the actual license terms before adopting this package in a commercial or restricted context.

Quickstart

pip install flake8-copyright

Then in .flake8 config:
[flake8]
copyright-check = True
select = E,F,W,C

Run: flake8 your_file.py

flake8 must be installed and configured; C errors are not selected by default in flake8, so you must explicitly add them to the select option.

Verify before relying

• Whether the package works with current flake8 versions (last release predates many recent flake8 updates).
• Actual license terms, since license_treatment is marked unclear and no SPDX identifier is present.
• Python 3.10+ compatibility, given classifiers only list Python 2 and 3 generically.

Package facts

Evidence: flake8_copyright-0.2.4-py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: pep8, flake8, copyright

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