If running bitbake in Docker (Gitlab CI) file ownership of the license files causes the error. Changing file timestamps is only possible for root or the owner of the file. The generic license files are copied from poky git tree, and to change the license file timestamps bitbake needs to run as user who owns the poky git tree files. Your Gitlab CI Dockerfile should have a "USER build" line, with uid for user build matching the real file ownership.