diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/packages/Rule.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/packages/Rule.java
index aeb5c33..bf3ceaf 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/packages/Rule.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/packages/Rule.java
@@ -666,7 +666,7 @@
     if (isAttrDefined("licenses", BuildType.LICENSE)
         && isAttributeValueExplicitlySpecified("licenses")) {
       return NonconfigurableAttributeMapper.of(this).get("licenses", BuildType.LICENSE);
-    } else if (getRuleClassObject().ignorePackageLicenses()) {
+    } else if (getRuleClassObject().ignoreLicenses()) {
       return License.NO_LICENSE;
     } else {
       return getPackage().getDefaultLicense();
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/packages/RuleClass.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/packages/RuleClass.java
index 4bdf988..4b3eb4f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/packages/RuleClass.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/packages/RuleClass.java
@@ -661,7 +661,7 @@
     private boolean hasAnalysisTestTransition = false;
     private boolean hasFunctionTransitionWhitelist = false;
     private boolean hasStarlarkRuleTransition = false;
-    private boolean ignorePackageLicenses = false;
+    private boolean ignoreLicenses = false;
     private ImplicitOutputsFunction implicitOutputsFunction = ImplicitOutputsFunction.NONE;
     private TransitionFactory<Rule> transitionFactory;
     private ConfiguredTargetFactory<?, ?, ?> configuredTargetFactory = null;
@@ -852,7 +852,7 @@
           isAnalysisTest,
           hasAnalysisTestTransition,
           hasFunctionTransitionWhitelist,
-          ignorePackageLicenses,
+          ignoreLicenses,
           implicitOutputsFunction,
           transitionFactory,
           configuredTargetFactory,
@@ -1260,10 +1260,6 @@
       return this;
     }
 
-    public boolean hasAnalysisTestTransition() {
-      return this.hasAnalysisTestTransition;
-    }
-
     /**
      * This rule class has the _whitelist_function_transition attribute.  Intended only for Skylark
      * rules.
@@ -1273,16 +1269,16 @@
       return this;
     }
 
-    /** This rule class ignores package-level licenses. */
-    public Builder setIgnorePackageLicenses() {
-      this.ignorePackageLicenses = true;
+    /**
+     * This rule class never declares a license regardless of what the rule's or package's <code>
+     * licenses</code> attribute says.
+     */
+    // TODO(b/130286108): remove the licenses attribute completely from such rules.
+    public Builder setIgnoreLicenses() {
+      this.ignoreLicenses = true;
       return this;
     }
 
-    public boolean ignorePackageLicenses() {
-      return this.ignorePackageLicenses;
-    }
-
     public RuleClassType getType() {
       return this.type;
     }
@@ -1451,7 +1447,7 @@
   private final boolean isAnalysisTest;
   private final boolean hasAnalysisTestTransition;
   private final boolean hasFunctionTransitionWhitelist;
-  private final boolean ignorePackageLicenses;
+  private final boolean ignoreLicenses;
 
   /**
    * A (unordered) mapping from attribute names to small integers indexing into
@@ -1582,7 +1578,7 @@
       boolean isAnalysisTest,
       boolean hasAnalysisTestTransition,
       boolean hasFunctionTransitionWhitelist,
-      boolean ignorePackageLicenses,
+      boolean ignoreLicenses,
       ImplicitOutputsFunction implicitOutputsFunction,
       TransitionFactory<Rule> transitionFactory,
       ConfiguredTargetFactory<?, ?, ?> configuredTargetFactory,
@@ -1632,7 +1628,7 @@
     this.isAnalysisTest = isAnalysisTest;
     this.hasAnalysisTestTransition = hasAnalysisTestTransition;
     this.hasFunctionTransitionWhitelist = hasFunctionTransitionWhitelist;
-    this.ignorePackageLicenses = ignorePackageLicenses;
+    this.ignoreLicenses = ignoreLicenses;
     this.configurationFragmentPolicy = configurationFragmentPolicy;
     this.supportsConstraintChecking = supportsConstraintChecking;
     this.thirdPartyLicenseExistencePolicy = thirdPartyLicenseExistencePolicy;
@@ -1977,6 +1973,12 @@
       }
       Attribute attr = getAttribute(attrIndex);
 
+      if (attributeName.equals("licenses") && ignoreLicenses) {
+        setRuleAttributeValue(rule, eventHandler, attr, License.NO_LICENSE, /*explicit=*/ false);
+        definedAttrIndices.set(attrIndex);
+        continue;
+      }
+
       // Convert the build-lang value to a native value, if necessary.
       Object nativeAttributeValue;
       if (attributeValues.valuesAreBuildLanguageTyped()) {
@@ -2041,7 +2043,9 @@
             eventHandler);
       }
 
-      if (attr.hasComputedDefault()) {
+      if (attr.getName().equals("licenses") && ignoreLicenses) {
+        rule.setAttributeValue(attr, License.NO_LICENSE, /*explicit=*/ false);
+      } else if (attr.hasComputedDefault()) {
         // Note that it is necessary to set all non-computed default values before calling
         // Attribute#getDefaultValue for computed default attributes. Computed default attributes
         // may have a condition predicate (i.e. the predicate returned by Attribute#getCondition)
@@ -2154,7 +2158,7 @@
    */
   private static void checkThirdPartyRuleHasLicense(Rule rule,
       Package.Builder pkgBuilder, EventHandler eventHandler) {
-    if (rule.getRuleClassObject().ignorePackageLicenses()) {
+    if (rule.getRuleClassObject().ignoreLicenses()) {
       // A package license is sufficient; ignore rules that don't include it.
       return;
     }
@@ -2516,9 +2520,14 @@
     return hasFunctionTransitionWhitelist;
   }
 
-  /** Returns true if this rule class should ignore package-level licenses. */
-  public boolean ignorePackageLicenses() {
-    return ignorePackageLicenses;
+  /**
+   * If true, no rule of this class ever declares a license regardless of what the rule's or
+   * package's <code>licenses</code> attribute says.
+   *
+   * <p>This is useful for rule types that don't make sense for license checking.
+   */
+  public boolean ignoreLicenses() {
+    return ignoreLicenses;
   }
 
   public ImmutableSet<Label> getRequiredToolchains() {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/config/ConfigRuleClasses.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/config/ConfigRuleClasses.java
index eeaec37..2ce0e7b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/config/ConfigRuleClasses.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/config/ConfigRuleClasses.java
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@
     @Override
     public RuleClass build(RuleClass.Builder builder, RuleDefinitionEnvironment env) {
       return builder
-          .setIgnorePackageLicenses()
+          .setIgnoreLicenses()
           .requiresConfigurationFragments(PlatformConfiguration.class)
           .add(
               attr(TOOLS_REPOSITORY_ATTRIBUTE, STRING)
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/packages/RuleClassTest.java b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/packages/RuleClassTest.java
index 3db997a..0164f0c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/packages/RuleClassTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/packages/RuleClassTest.java
@@ -898,7 +898,7 @@
         isAnalysisTest,
         /* hasAnalysisTestTransition=*/ false,
         /* hasFunctionTransitionWhitelist=*/ false,
-        /* ignorePackageLicenses=*/ false,
+        /* ignoreLicenses=*/ false,
         implicitOutputsFunction,
         transitionFactory,
         configuredTargetFactory,
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/config/ConfigSettingTest.java b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/config/ConfigSettingTest.java
index b7e3ddc..0e018c4 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/config/ConfigSettingTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/config/ConfigSettingTest.java
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.analysis.util.BuildViewTestCase;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.cmdline.Label;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.cmdline.RepositoryName;
+import com.google.devtools.build.lib.packages.BuildType;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.packages.License.LicenseType;
+import com.google.devtools.build.lib.packages.RawAttributeMapper;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.packages.Rule;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.skyframe.serialization.autocodec.AutoCodec;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.testutil.TestConstants;
@@ -1447,7 +1449,15 @@
   }
 
   private Set<LicenseType> getLicenses(String label) throws Exception {
-    return getTarget(label).getLicense().getLicenseTypes();
+    Rule rule = (Rule) getTarget(label);
+    // There are two interfaces for retrieving a rule's license: from the Rule object and by
+    // directly reading the "licenses" attribute. For config_setting both of these should always
+    // be NONE. This method checks consistency between them.
+    Set<LicenseType> fromRule = rule.getLicense().getLicenseTypes();
+    Set<LicenseType> fromAttribute =
+        RawAttributeMapper.of(rule).get("licenses", BuildType.LICENSE).getLicenseTypes();
+    assertThat(fromRule).containsExactlyElementsIn(fromAttribute);
+    return fromRule;
   }
 
   /** Tests that default license behavior is unaffected. */
@@ -1496,7 +1506,7 @@
     assertThat(getLicenses("//test:match")).containsExactly(LicenseType.NONE);
   }
 
-  /** Tests that rule-specific licenses are still used by config_setting. */
+  /** Tests that rule-specific licenses are ignored by config_setting. */
   @Test
   public void ruleLicensesUsed() throws Exception {
     scratch.file(
@@ -1509,6 +1519,6 @@
         "    })");
 
     useConfiguration("--copt", "-Dfoo");
-    assertThat(getLicenses("//test:match")).containsExactly(LicenseType.RESTRICTED);
+    assertThat(getLicenses("//test:match")).containsExactly(LicenseType.NONE);
   }
 }