diff --git a/meta/classes/base.bbclass b/meta/classes/base.bbclass
index 87a4cb5fc7..a376dfa134 100644
--- a/meta/classes/base.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/base.bbclass
@@ -598,9 +598,9 @@ python () {
             whitelist = []
             for lic in bad_licenses:
                 spdx_license = return_spdx(d, lic)
-                whitelist.extend((d.getVar("WHITELIST_" + lic) or "").split())
+                whitelist.extend((d.getVar("INCOMPATIBLE_LICENSE_ALLOWED_RECIPE_" + lic) or "").split())
                 if spdx_license:
-                    whitelist.extend((d.getVar("WHITELIST_" + spdx_license) or "").split())
+                    whitelist.extend((d.getVar("INCOMPATIBLE_LICENSE_ALLOWED_RECIPE_" + spdx_license) or "").split())
 
             if pn in whitelist:
                 '''
diff --git a/meta/classes/license_image.bbclass b/meta/classes/license_image.bbclass
index bf70bee99b..701516d324 100644
--- a/meta/classes/license_image.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/license_image.bbclass
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ def write_license_files(d, license_manifest, pkg_dic, rootfs=True):
 
     whitelist = []
     for lic in bad_licenses:
-        whitelist.extend((d.getVar("WHITELIST_" + lic) or "").split())
+        whitelist.extend((d.getVar("INCOMPATIBLE_LICENSE_ALLOWED_RECIPE_" + lic) or "").split())
 
     with open(license_manifest, "w") as license_file:
         for pkg in sorted(pkg_dic):
diff --git a/meta/classes/multilib.bbclass b/meta/classes/multilib.bbclass
index ec2013198c..278a88181a 100644
--- a/meta/classes/multilib.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/multilib.bbclass
@@ -75,11 +75,11 @@ python multilib_virtclass_handler () {
     e.data.setVar("PN", variant + "-" + e.data.getVar("PN", False))
     e.data.setVar("OVERRIDES", e.data.getVar("OVERRIDES", False) + override)
 
-    # Expand WHITELIST_GPL-3.0 with multilib prefix
-    pkgs = e.data.getVar("WHITELIST_GPL-3.0")
+    # Expand INCOMPATIBLE_LICENSE_ALLOWED_RECIPE_GPL-3.0 with multilib prefix
+    pkgs = e.data.getVar("INCOMPATIBLE_LICENSE_ALLOWED_RECIPE_GPL-3.0")
     for pkg in pkgs.split():
         pkgs += " " + variant + "-" + pkg
-    e.data.setVar("WHITELIST_GPL-3.0", pkgs)
+    e.data.setVar("INCOMPATIBLE_LICENSE_ALLOWED_RECIPE_GPL-3.0", pkgs)
 
     # DEFAULTTUNE can change TARGET_ARCH override so expand this now before update_data
     newtune = e.data.getVar("DEFAULTTUNE:" + "virtclass-multilib-" + variant, False)
diff --git a/meta/conf/distro/include/default-distrovars.inc b/meta/conf/distro/include/default-distrovars.inc
index 3bba651a77..7bfb946e67 100644
--- a/meta/conf/distro/include/default-distrovars.inc
+++ b/meta/conf/distro/include/default-distrovars.inc
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ DISTRO_FEATURES_DEFAULT ?= "acl alsa argp bluetooth debuginfod ext2 ipv4 ipv6 la
 DISTRO_FEATURES ?= "${DISTRO_FEATURES_DEFAULT}"
 IMAGE_FEATURES ?= ""
 
-WHITELIST_GPL-3.0 ?= ""
+INCOMPATIBLE_LICENSE_ALLOWED_RECIPE_GPL-3.0 ?= ""
 
 COMMERCIAL_AUDIO_PLUGINS ?= ""
 # COMMERCIAL_AUDIO_PLUGINS ?= "gst-plugins-ugly-mad gst-plugins-ugly-mpegaudioparse"
diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/incompatible_lic.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/incompatible_lic.py
index fd3b3f409e..52c381dba6 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/incompatible_lic.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/incompatible_lic.py
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ INCOMPATIBLE_LICENSE:pn-core-image-minimal = "GPL-3.0 LGPL-3.0"
         bitbake('core-image-minimal')
 
     def test_bash_whitelist(self):
-        self.write_config(self.default_config() + '\nWHITELIST_GPL-3.0:pn-core-image-minimal = "bash"')
+        self.write_config(self.default_config() + '\nINCOMPATIBLE_LICENSE_ALLOWED_RECIPE_GPL-3.0:pn-core-image-minimal = "bash"')
 
         bitbake('core-image-minimal')