diff --git a/COPYING b/COPYING
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ea8112482af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/COPYING
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+OpenWrt is provided under:
+
+	SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+
+Being under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only,
+according with:
+
+	LICENSES/GPL-2.0
+
+In addition, other licenses may also apply.
+
+All contributions to OpenWrt are subject to this COPYING file.