diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/create.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/create.py
index 3fc8703c0e..880bdb05a8 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/create.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/create.py
@@ -27,7 +27,16 @@
 level = "short"
 
 
-package_template = '''\#
+package_template = '''\
+# Copyright 2013-2018 Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC and other
+# Spack Project Developers. See the top-level COPYRIGHT file for details.
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
+
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# If you submit this package back to Spack as a pull request,
+# please first remove this boilerplate and all FIXME comments.
+#
 # This is a template package file for Spack.  We've put "FIXME"
 # next to all the things you'll want to change. Once you've handled
 # them, you can save this file and test your package like this:
@@ -39,9 +48,8 @@
 #     spack edit {name}
 #
 # See the Spack documentation for more information on packaging.
-# If you submit this package back to Spack as a pull request,
-# please first remove this boilerplate and all FIXME comments.
-#
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 from spack import *