diff --git a/lib/licensed/sources/manifest.rb b/lib/licensed/sources/manifest.rb
index 7fa53f1..81660e1 100644
--- a/lib/licensed/sources/manifest.rb
+++ b/lib/licensed/sources/manifest.rb
@@ -10,10 +10,11 @@ module Licensed
 
       def enumerate_dependencies
         packages.map do |package_name, sources|
-          Licensed::Sources::Manifest::Dependency.new(sources,
-            @config.root,
-            package_license(package_name),
-            {
+          Licensed::Sources::Manifest::Dependency.new(
+            name: package_name,
+            path: configured_license_path(package_name) || sources_license_path(sources),
+            sources: sources,
+            metadata: {
               "type"     => Manifest.type,
               "name"     => package_name,
               "version"  => package_version(sources)
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ module Licensed
       end
 
       # Returns the license path for a package specified in the configuration.
-      def package_license(package_name)
+      def configured_license_path(package_name)
         license_path = @config.dig("manifest", "licenses", package_name)
         return unless license_path
 
@@ -41,6 +42,25 @@ module Licensed
         license_path
       end
 
+      # Returns the top-most directory that is common to all paths in `sources`
+      def sources_license_path(sources)
+        # if there is more than one source, try to find a directory common to
+        # all sources
+        if sources.size > 1
+          common_prefix = Pathname.common_prefix(*sources).to_path
+
+          # don't allow the workspace root to be used as common prefix
+          # the project this is run for should be excluded from the manifest,
+          # or ignored in the config.  any license in the root should be ignored.
+          return common_prefix if common_prefix != @config.root
+        end
+
+        # use the first (or only) sources directory to find license information
+        source = sources.first
+        return File.dirname(source) if File.file?(source)
+        source
+      end
+
       # Returns a map of package names -> array of full source paths found
       # in the app manifest
       def packages
@@ -169,87 +189,44 @@ module Licensed
           )
         /imx.freeze
 
-        def initialize(sources, root, license_path, metadata = {})
+        def initialize(name:, path:, sources:, metadata: {})
           @sources = sources
-          license_path ||= sources_license_path(sources, root)
-          super license_path, metadata
+          super(name: name, path: path, metadata: metadata)
         end
 
-        # Detects license information and sets it on this dependency object.
-        #  After calling `detect_license!``, the license is set at
-        # `dependency["license"]` and legal text is set to `dependency.text`
-        def detect_license!
-          # if no license key is found for the project, try to create a
-          # temporary LICENSE file from unique source file license headers
-          if license_key == "none"
-            tmp_license_file = write_license_from_source_licenses(self.path, @sources)
-            reset_license!
-          end
+        def project_files
+          files = super
+          files.concat(source_files) if files.empty?
+          files
+        end
 
-          super
-        ensure
-          File.delete(tmp_license_file) if tmp_license_file && File.exist?(tmp_license_file)
+        def source_files
+          @source_files ||= begin
+            @sources.select { |f| File.file?(f) }
+                    .map { |f| File.read(f) }
+                    .flat_map { |content| content.scan(HEADER_LICENSE_REGEX) }
+                    .map { |match| match[0] }
+                    .map { |comment| source_comment_text(comment) }
+                    .compact
+                    .map { |content| Licensee::ProjectFiles::LicenseFile.new(content) }
+          end
         end
 
         private
 
-        # Returns the top-most directory that is common to all paths in `sources`
-        def sources_license_path(sources, root)
-          # return the source directory if there is only one source given
-          return source_directory(sources[0]) if sources.size == 1
+        # Returns the comment text with leading * and whitespace stripped
+        def source_comment_text(comment)
+          indent = nil
+          comment.lines.map do |line|
+            # find the length of the indent as the number of characters
+            # until the first word character
+            indent ||= line[/\A([^\w]*)\w/, 1]&.size
 
-          common_prefix = Pathname.common_prefix(*sources).to_path
+            # insert newline for each line until a word character is found
+            next "\n" unless indent
 
-          # don't allow the workspace root to be used as common prefix
-          # the project this is run for should be excluded from the manifest,
-          # or ignored in the config.  any license in the root should be ignored.
-          return common_prefix if common_prefix != root
-
-          # use the first source directory as the license path.
-          source_directory(sources.first)
-        end
-
-        # Returns the directory for the source.  Checks whether the source
-        # is a file or a directory
-        def source_directory(source)
-          return File.dirname(source) if File.file?(source)
-          source
-        end
-
-        # Writes any licenses found in source file comments to a LICENSE
-        # file at `dir`
-        # Returns the path to the license file
-        def write_license_from_source_licenses(dir, sources)
-          license_path = File.join(dir, "LICENSE")
-          File.open(license_path, "w") do |f|
-            licenses = source_comment_licenses(sources).uniq
-            f.puts(licenses.join("\n#{LICENSE_SEPARATOR}\n"))
-          end
-
-          license_path
-        end
-
-        # Returns a list of unique licenses parsed from source comments
-        def source_comment_licenses(sources)
-          comments = sources.select { |s| File.file?(s) }.flat_map do |source|
-            content = File.read(source)
-            content.scan(HEADER_LICENSE_REGEX).map { |match| match[0] }
-          end
-
-          comments.map do |comment|
-            # strip leading "*" and whitespace
-            indent = nil
-            comment.lines.map do |line|
-              # find the length of the indent as the number of characters
-              # until the first word character
-              indent ||= line[/\A([^\w]*)\w/, 1]&.size
-
-              # insert newline for each line until a word character is found
-              next "\n" unless indent
-
-              line[/([^\w\r\n]{0,#{indent}})(.*)/m, 2]
-            end.join
-          end
+            line[/([^\w\r\n]{0,#{indent}})(.*)/m, 2]
+          end.join
         end
       end
     end
diff --git a/test/fixtures/manifest/manifest.yml b/test/fixtures/manifest/manifest.yml
index 6626d8e..36ae7dd 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/manifest/manifest.yml
+++ b/test/fixtures/manifest/manifest.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 test/fixtures/manifest/test_1.c: manifest_test
 test/fixtures/manifest/subfolder/test_2.c: manifest_test
-script/console: other
 test/fixtures/manifest/single_license_header/source.c: bsd3_single_header_license
 test/fixtures/manifest/single_license_header/source_2.c: bsd3_single_header_license
 test/fixtures/manifest/multiple_license_headers/source.c: bsd3_multi_header_license
diff --git a/test/fixtures/manifest/with_notices/COPYING b/test/fixtures/manifest/with_notices/LEGAL
similarity index 100%
rename from test/fixtures/manifest/with_notices/COPYING
rename to test/fixtures/manifest/with_notices/LEGAL
diff --git a/test/sources/manifest_test.rb b/test/sources/manifest_test.rb
index 34183a3..16a3b42 100644
--- a/test/sources/manifest_test.rb
+++ b/test/sources/manifest_test.rb
@@ -31,22 +31,10 @@ describe Licensed::Sources::Manifest do
 
   describe "dependencies" do
     it "includes dependencies from the manifest" do
-      dep = source.dependencies.detect { |d| d["name"] == "manifest_test" }
+      dep = source.dependencies.detect { |d| d.name == "manifest_test" }
       assert dep
-      assert_equal "manifest", dep["type"]
-      assert dep["version"] # version comes from git, just make sure its there
-    end
-
-    describe "paths" do
-      it "finds the common folder path for the dependency" do
-        dep = source.dependencies.detect { |d| d["name"] == "manifest_test" }
-        assert_equal fixtures, dep.path
-      end
-
-      it "uses the first source folder if there is no common path" do
-        dep = source.dependencies.detect { |d| d["name"] == "other" }
-        assert dep.path.end_with?("script")
-      end
+      assert_equal "manifest", dep.data["type"]
+      assert dep.data["version"] # version comes from git, just make sure its there
     end
 
     it "uses a license specified in the configuration if provided" do
@@ -56,53 +44,39 @@ describe Licensed::Sources::Manifest do
         }
       }
 
-      dep = source.dependencies.detect { |d| d["name"] == "manifest_test" }
+      dep = source.dependencies.detect { |d| d.name == "manifest_test" }
       assert dep
-      dep.detect_license!
-      assert_equal "mit", dep["license"]
+      assert_equal "mit", dep.data["license"]
 
       license_path = File.join(config.root, config.dig("manifest", "licenses", "manifest_test"))
-      assert_equal File.read(license_path).strip, dep.text
+      assert_includes dep.data.licenses, File.read(license_path)
     end
 
     it "prefers licenses from license files" do
-      dep = source.dependencies.detect { |d| d["name"] == "mit_license_file" }
+      dep = source.dependencies.detect { |d| d.name == "mit_license_file" }
       assert dep
-      dep.detect_license!
-      assert_equal "mit", dep["license"]
-      refute_nil dep.text
+      assert_equal "mit", dep.data["license"]
+      refute_empty dep.data.licenses
     end
 
     it "detects license from source header comments if license files are not found" do
-      dep = source.dependencies.detect { |d| d["name"] == "bsd3_single_header_license" }
+      dep = source.dependencies.detect { |d| d.name == "bsd3_single_header_license" }
       assert dep
-      dep.detect_license!
-      assert_equal "bsd-3-clause", dep["license"]
-      refute_nil dep.text
-      refute dep.text.include?(Licensed::License::LICENSE_SEPARATOR)
-
-      # verify that the license file was removed after evaluation
-      refute File.exist?(File.join(dep.path, "LICENSE"))
+      assert_equal "bsd-3-clause", dep.data["license"]
+      assert_equal 1, dep.data.licenses.uniq.size
     end
 
     it "detects unique license content from multiple headers" do
-      dep = source.dependencies.detect { |d| d["name"] == "bsd3_multi_header_license" }
+      dep = source.dependencies.detect { |d| d.name == "bsd3_multi_header_license" }
       assert dep
-      dep.detect_license!
-      # because there are different licenses/copyrights that need to be included
-      # we aren't able to specify that the actual license content is equivalent
-      # so we are left with "other"
-      assert_equal "other", dep["license"]
-      refute_nil dep.text
-      assert dep.text.include?(Licensed::License::LICENSE_SEPARATOR)
+      assert_equal "bsd-3-clause", dep.data["license"]
+      assert_equal 2, dep.data.licenses.uniq.size
     end
 
     it "preserves legal notices when detecting license content from comments" do
-      dep = source.dependencies.detect { |d| d["name"] == "notices" }
+      dep = source.dependencies.detect { |d| d.name == "notices" }
       assert dep
-      dep.detect_license!
-      refute_nil dep.text
-      assert dep.text.include?(dep.notices.join("\n#{Licensed::License::TEXT_SEPARATOR}\n").strip)
+      refute_empty dep.data.notices
     end
   end