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<h1>Frequently Asked Questions</h1>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal;">
<li><a href="#what">What is Rat?</a></li>
<li><a href="#where">Where do I find Apache Rat?</a></li>
<li><a href="#why">Why should I use the Maven plugin to run Apache Rat?</a></li></ol>
<ol style="list-style-type: decimal;">
<li><a href="#includeSubprojects">
The apache-rat-plugin creates a report for every subproject.
I want a single report for the whole project, which includes
the subprojects.
</a></li>
<li><a href="#customLicense">Can I use Rat to validate against a custom license header?</a></li></ol></section>
<dl><a id="what"></a>
<dt>What is Rat?</dt>
<dd>
<p>
Basically, you can think of it as a tool that checks,
whether you're source files are carrying proper
license headers. Almost any non-trivial organization
has a policy for license headers. In the case
of the <a href="https://www.apache.org/" class="externalLink">Apache Software
Foundation (ASF)</a>, this is the
<a href="https://www.apache.org/legal/src-headers.html" class="externalLink">ASF
Source Header and Copyright Notice Policy</a>.
</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="#top">[top]</a></p><hr /></dd><a id="where"></a>
<dt>Where do I find Apache Rat?</dt>
<dd>
<p>
Apache Rat is now part of the
<a href="https://creadur.apache.org" class="externalLink">Apache Creadur</a> project,
a home for all sorts of software that helps audit and review
software distributions.
</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="#top">[top]</a></p><hr /></dd><a id="why"></a>
<dt>Why should I use the Maven plugin to run Apache Rat?</dt>
<dd>
<p>Because it makes running Rat trivial. Basically, you just
add the plugin to the <code>build/plugins</code> section
of your POM and run <code>mvn apache-rat:check</code>. Using Rat
cannot be simpler.
</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="#top">[top]</a></p></dd></dl>
<dl><a id="includeSubprojects"></a>
<dt>
The apache-rat-plugin creates a report for every subproject.
I want a single report for the whole project, which includes
the subprojects.
</dt>
<dd>
<p>Set the configuration parameter &quot;excludeSubProjects&quot;
to false.</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="#top">[top]</a></p><hr /></dd><a id="customLicense"></a>
<dt>Can I use Rat to validate against a custom license header?</dt>
<dd>
<p>See <a href="examples/custom-license.html">this example</a> to see how.</p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="#top">[top]</a></p></dd></dl> </main>
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