diff --git a/doc/release-notes/rl-2611.section.md b/doc/release-notes/rl-2611.section.md
index 33805fc50055..7aa7fd8f5b6c 100644
--- a/doc/release-notes/rl-2611.section.md
+++ b/doc/release-notes/rl-2611.section.md
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 - `hurl` has been updated to `8.x.x` which has some breaking changes. See [upstream changelog](https://github.com/Orange-OpenSource/hurl/releases/tag/8.0.0) for details.
 - `python3Packages.django-health-check` has been updated to major version 4. See its [migration guide](https://codingjoe.dev/django-health-check/migrate-to-v4/) and [changelog](https://github.com/codingjoe/django-health-check/releases/tag/4.0.0) for breaking changes.
 
+- `requireFile` now sets `meta.license = lib.licenses.unfree` by default. Users of `requireFile`-based derivations that preserve this default will need to explicitly allow their evaluation as described in [](#sec-allow-unfree).
+
 ## Other Notable Changes {#sec-nixpkgs-release-26.11-notable-changes}
 
 <!-- To avoid merge conflicts, consider adding your item at an arbitrary place in the list instead. -->
diff --git a/doc/stdenv/meta.chapter.md b/doc/stdenv/meta.chapter.md
index beac596c2e02..63d9d24ab8db 100644
--- a/doc/stdenv/meta.chapter.md
+++ b/doc/stdenv/meta.chapter.md
@@ -157,6 +157,8 @@ The list of Nix platform types for which the [Hydra](https://github.com/nixos/hy
 }
 ```
 
+Note that this does not affect whether reverse dependencies of the package are built on Hydra.
+
 ### `broken` {#var-meta-broken}
 
 If set to `true`, the package is marked as "broken", meaning that it won’t show up in [search.nixos.org](https://search.nixos.org/packages), and cannot be built or installed unless [explicitly allowed](#sec-allow-broken).
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix
index 2174846b986c..19c8248d3218 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/trivial-builders/default.nix
@@ -908,6 +908,7 @@ rec {
         url ? null,
         message ? null,
         hashMode ? "flat",
+        meta ? { },
       }@args:
       assert (message != null) || (url != null);
       assert (sha256 != null) || (sha1 != null) || (hash != null);
@@ -951,6 +952,10 @@ rec {
           printf '%s' ${lib.escapeShellArg msg}
           exit 1
         '';
+        meta = {
+          license = lib.licenses.unfree;
+        }
+        // meta;
       }
       // (lib.optionalAttrs (name == null) {
         # The case of providing `url`, but not `name`. This has
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/rc/rcu/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/rc/rcu/package.nix
index 701f9c6c7129..389126e2ce29 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/rc/rcu/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/rc/rcu/package.nix
@@ -34,6 +34,10 @@ python3Packages.buildPythonApplication rec {
         name = "rcu-${version}-source.tar.gz";
         hash = "sha256-9YhhsLqAcevjJmENWVWfA1ursPz3mgFz8mzLLSNlXVM=";
         url = "https://www.davisr.me/projects/rcu/";
+        meta = {
+          # `requireFile` sets `lib.licenses.unfree` by default
+          inherit (meta) license;
+        };
       };
     in
     runCommand "${src-tarball.name}-unpacked" { } ''