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In the MIT license is:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

Does it mean that each file in the repository of the software must have a copy of the license document?

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It means literally what it says: if you distribute a substantial portion of the work, you must include the copyright and permission notices. How you do that is up to you, copyright law doesn't know or care what a "repository" is.

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  • Is it enough that the repository has a copy of the MIT license document? Commented Aug 2 at 13:57
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    That is generally considered sufficient in the vast majority of cases but there is no bright line test you can apply here. Commented Aug 2 at 16:20
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    it also could be a post it note attached to the USB drive that you are sending the code on Commented Aug 3 at 11:27
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    A good way to think of it, would be to think of a book or movie. The copyright information is usually only included in one location, but still applies to the entire thing. Each file of a repository could be equated as a page/chapter in a book. Commented Aug 4 at 16:03
  • @Blerg don't apply "logic" to "law". They don't mix well. Commented Sep 27 at 16:01