diff --git a/apktool-cli/pom.xml b/apktool-cli/pom.xml
index 36257a81..8b005477 100644
--- a/apktool-cli/pom.xml
+++ b/apktool-cli/pom.xml
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@
 
     <name>apktool cli</name>
 
+    <properties>
+        <root.basedir>${project.parent.basedir}</root.basedir>
+    </properties>
+
     <build>
         <plugins>
             <plugin>
diff --git a/apktool-lib/pom.xml b/apktool-lib/pom.xml
index d5798815..6defecd9 100644
--- a/apktool-lib/pom.xml
+++ b/apktool-lib/pom.xml
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 
     <properties>
         <smaliVersion>1.2.4-brut3</smaliVersion>
+        <root.basedir>${project.parent.basedir}</root.basedir>
     </properties>
 
     <build>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index d927b9a9..89940b75 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 
     <properties>
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
+        <root.basedir>${basedir}</root.basedir>
     </properties>
 
     <modules>
@@ -36,8 +37,14 @@
                 <groupId>com.mycila.maven-license-plugin</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-license-plugin</artifactId>
                 <configuration>
-                    <header>${project.parent.basedir}/src/templates/apache2.0-header.txt</header>
+                    <header>${root.basedir}/src/templates/apache2.0-header.txt</header>
                     <strictCheck>true</strictCheck>
+                    <excludes>
+                        <exclude>.gitignore</exclude>
+                        <exclude>LICENSE</exclude>
+                        <exclude>NOTICE</exclude>
+                        <exclude>NOTICE-smali</exclude>
+                    </excludes>
                 </configuration>
                 <executions>
                     <execution>