diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 8ee8ce7bff..814a5be6a3 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -96,7 +96,11 @@ package_linux() {
     mkdir -p dist
     cp build/qemu-system-i386 dist/xemu
     # cp -r "${project_source_dir}/data" dist
-    python3 ./scripts/gen-license.py > dist/LICENSE.txt
+    if test -e "${project_source_dir}/XEMU_LICENSE"; then
+      cp "${project_source_dir}/XEMU_LICENSE" dist/LICENSE.txt
+    else
+      python3 ./scripts/gen-license.py > dist/LICENSE.txt
+    fi
 }
 
 postbuild=''
diff --git a/scripts/archive-source.sh b/scripts/archive-source.sh
index 63b0de9619..16331c8168 100755
--- a/scripts/archive-source.sh
+++ b/scripts/archive-source.sh
@@ -72,9 +72,10 @@ for sm in $submodules; do
     test $? -ne 0 && error "failed append submodule $sm to $tar_file"
 done
 
+python3 ./scripts/gen-license.py > XEMU_LICENSE
 git rev-parse HEAD 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\n' > XEMU_COMMIT
 git symbolic-ref --short HEAD > XEMU_BRANCH
 git describe --match 'xemu-v*' | cut -c 7- | tr -d '\n' > XEMU_VERSION
-tar -r --file "$tar_file" XEMU_COMMIT XEMU_BRANCH XEMU_VERSION
+tar -r --file "$tar_file" XEMU_COMMIT XEMU_BRANCH XEMU_VERSION XEMU_LICENSE
 
 exit 0