# Beman tidy SPDX License Identifier check is too strict in 0.4.1

**URL:** https://discourse.bemanproject.org/t/beman-tidy-spdx-license-identifier-check-is-too-strict-in-0-4-1/583
**Category:** Beman Project Development
**Created:** [May 9, 2026, 4:38pm UTC](https://discourse.bemanproject.org/t/beman-tidy-spdx-license-identifier-check-is-too-strict-in-0-4-1/583 "2026-05-09T16:38:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Sdowney](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.bemanproject.org/sdowney/32/73_2.png) [@Sdowney](https://discourse.bemanproject.org/u/Sdowney)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2026, 4:38pm UTC](https://discourse.bemanproject.org/t/beman-tidy-spdx-license-identifier-check-is-too-strict-in-0-4-1/583/1 "2026-05-09T16:38:55Z")

</div>

Checking the exact first line is far too strict. It should be in the first few lines, although most scanning tools do not actually care.  
Common examples put file identification and copyright info ahead of the SPDX comment.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![ednolan](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.bemanproject.org/ednolan/32/131_2.png) [@ednolan](https://discourse.bemanproject.org/u/ednolan)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2026, 4:58pm UTC](https://discourse.bemanproject.org/t/beman-tidy-spdx-license-identifier-check-is-too-strict-in-0-4-1/583/2 "2026-05-09T16:58:34Z")

</div>

Created a GitHub issue: [Revise SPDX check to first 25 lines · Issue #316 · bemanproject/beman-tidy · GitHub](https://github.com/bemanproject/beman-tidy/issues/316)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![ednolan](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.bemanproject.org/ednolan/32/131_2.png) [@ednolan](https://discourse.bemanproject.org/u/ednolan)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2026, 3:42am UTC](https://discourse.bemanproject.org/t/beman-tidy-spdx-license-identifier-check-is-too-strict-in-0-4-1/583/3 "2026-05-25T03:42:13Z")

</div>

This is addressed in beman-tidy 0.5.0.