diff --git a/docs/packages/lalsuite.yaml b/docs/packages/lalsuite.yaml
index f94a56f0cac..04f675bbb91 100644
--- a/docs/packages/lalsuite.yaml
+++ b/docs/packages/lalsuite.yaml
@@ -22,3 +22,4 @@ versions:
   gpl-sources:
     filename: gpl-sources.tar
     description: gcc, fftw, gsl, metaio, framel
+- version: 7.26.16
diff --git a/patches/lalsuite/7.26.16/0001-wheel-drop-the-license_file-override.patch b/patches/lalsuite/7.26.16/0001-wheel-drop-the-license_file-override.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c1f1d2e7907
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/lalsuite/7.26.16/0001-wheel-drop-the-license_file-override.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+From be4d8e2b7a3938a7c6b45bb0b90dfed12b8f756e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Ludovic Henry <git@ludovic.dev>
+Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000
+Subject: [PATCH] wheel: drop the license_file override so setuptools' default
+ glob ships every vendored dependency's licence
+
+Upstream-Status: Inappropriate [needed for RISE's own vendored-dependency licence bundling convention; upstream's own wheel_build.yml/wheel.sh never attempts this collection at all, so there is nothing to send upstream]
+
+wheel/setup.cfg sets the deprecated singular `license_file = COPYING`, which
+setuptools honours by replacing its default `license_files` discovery
+entirely (only that one path is packaged) rather than adding to it. Our
+build-lalsuite.yml drops each vendored dependency's licence into the wheel
+project root as `LICENSE.<dep>.<file>` for the default `LICEN[CS]E*` glob to
+pick up (the same convention build-cvxopt.yml and others use), but with an
+explicit override in place none of those files reach `dist-info/licenses/`
+and the wheel ends up missing licences for cfitsio, fftw, framel, gsl and
+hdf5 alike -- caught by the `assert not missing` check at the end of the
+build_wheels job.
+
+Dropping the override, rather than expanding it into an explicit list, lets
+setuptools fall back to its default glob patterns (LICEN[CS]E*, COPYING*,
+NOTICE*, AUTHORS*), which still matches `COPYING` itself -- so lalsuite's own
+licence keeps shipping exactly as before, and every `LICENSE.*` file the
+workflow adds is now picked up with no further packaging edit needed.
+---
+ wheel/setup.cfg | 1 -
+ 1 file changed, 1 deletion(-)
+
+diff --git a/wheel/setup.cfg b/wheel/setup.cfg
+index 074c015..306d97e 100644
+--- a/wheel/setup.cfg
++++ b/wheel/setup.cfg
+@@ -1,2 +1 @@
+ [metadata]
+-license_file = COPYING
+-- 
+2.43.0
+