diff --git a/abuild.in b/abuild.in
index 9adb37a..6cfb6a2 100644
--- a/abuild.in
+++ b/abuild.in
@@ -1041,12 +1041,12 @@ check_maintainer() {
 check_license() {
 	local ret=0
 	local license_list=/usr/share/spdx/license.lst
-	local exclude="AND OR WITH ( )"
 	if options_has "!spdx" || ! [ -f "$license_list" ]; then
 		return 0
 	fi
+	local IFS="$IFS()"
 	local i; for i in $license; do
-		list_has "$i" $exclude && continue
+		list_has "$i" AND OR WITH && continue
 		if ! grep -q -x -F "$i" "$license_list"; then
 			ret=1
 			warning "\"$i\" is not a known license"
diff --git a/tests/abuild_test b/tests/abuild_test
index 2b7ea99..2a0ad15 100755
--- a/tests/abuild_test
+++ b/tests/abuild_test
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ init_tests \
 	abuild_bigdocs \
 	abuild_warn_pkgver_patch_version \
 	abuild_multiline_license \
+	abuild_license_spdx \
 	abuild_git_ceiling \
 	abuild_package_size_zero \
 	abuild_package_size_nonzero \
@@ -499,10 +500,18 @@ abuild_multiline_license_body() {
 	cp -ra "$testrepo"/test-licenses .
 	cd test-licenses
 	abuild rootpkg
-	atf_check -o match:'^license = MIT AND GPL-3.0-only OR GPL-3.0-or-later AND BSD-Clause-4$' \
+	atf_check -o match:'^license = MIT AND \(GPL-3.0-only OR GPL-3.0-or-later AND BSD-Clause-4\)$' \
 		cat pkg/.control.test-licenses/.PKGINFO
 }
 
+abuild_license_spdx_body() {
+	cp -ra "$testrepo"/test-licenses .
+	cd test-licenses
+	TESTPKGVER=1.0_p1 atf_check -s exit:0 \
+		-e not-match:'WARNING' \
+		abuild sanitycheck
+}
+
 abuild_git_ceiling_body() {
 	init_keys
 	git init
diff --git a/tests/testrepo/test-licenses/APKBUILD b/tests/testrepo/test-licenses/APKBUILD
index 6f1ecb0..986ae07 100644
--- a/tests/testrepo/test-licenses/APKBUILD
+++ b/tests/testrepo/test-licenses/APKBUILD
@@ -8,10 +8,10 @@ pkgdesc='Dummy test package that has multi-line licenses'
 url='https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/alpine/aports'
 arch='noarch'
 license='MIT AND
-         GPL-3.0-only OR  
+         (GPL-3.0-only OR  
   
  GPL-3.0-or-later AND   
-		 BSD-Clause-4
+		 BSD-Clause-4)
 '
 
 prepare() {