The LIC_FILES_CHKSUM variable contains checksums of the license text in the source code for the recipe. Following is an example of how to specify LIC_FILES_CHKSUM:

     LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://COPYING;md5=xxxx \
                         file://licfile1.txt;beginline=5;endline=29;md5=yyyy \
                         file://licfile2.txt;endline=50;md5=zzzz \
                         ..."
                

The build system uses the S variable as the default directory used when searching files listed in LIC_FILES_CHKSUM. The previous example employs the default directory.

You can also use relative paths as shown in the following example:

     LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://src/ls.c;startline=5;endline=16;\
                                         md5=bb14ed3c4cda583abc85401304b5cd4e"
     LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://../license.html;md5=5c94767cedb5d6987c902ac850ded2c6"
                

In this example, the first line locates a file in ${S}/src/ls.c. The second line refers to a file in WORKDIR, which is the parent of S.

Note that this variable is mandatory for all recipes, unless the LICENSE variable is set to "CLOSED".