diff --git a/package/kmod/kmod.mk b/package/kmod/kmod.mk
index 5c733b933..2fe99427a 100644
--- a/package/kmod/kmod.mk
+++ b/package/kmod/kmod.mk
@@ -7,11 +7,13 @@
 KMOD_VERSION = 13
 KMOD_SOURCE = kmod-$(KMOD_VERSION).tar.xz
 KMOD_SITE = $(BR2_KERNEL_MIRROR)/linux/utils/kernel/kmod/
-KMOD_LICENSE = GPLv2+ LGPLv2.1+
-KMOD_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING libkmod/COPYING
 KMOD_INSTALL_STAGING = YES
 KMOD_DEPENDENCIES = host-pkgconf
 
+# license info for libkmod only, conditionally add more below
+KMOD_LICENSE = LGPLv2.1+
+KMOD_LICENSE_FILES = libkmod/COPYING
+
 ifneq ($(BR2_HAVE_DOCUMENTATION),y)
 KMOD_CONF_OPT += --disable-manpages
 endif
@@ -27,6 +29,11 @@ KMOD_CONF_OPT += --with-xz
 endif
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_KMOD_TOOLS),y)
+
+# add license info for kmod tools
+KMOD_LICENSE += GPLv2+
+KMOD_LICENSE_FILES += COPYING
+
 # take precedence over busybox / module-init-tools implementations
 KMOD_DEPENDENCIES += \
 	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_BUSYBOX),busybox) \