On 29Jan2021 2227, Random832 wrote:
On Thu, Jan 28, 2021, at 22:57, Emily Bowman wrote:
On Thu, Jan 28, 2021 at 1:31 PM MRAB <pyt...@mrabarnett.plus.com> wrote:
I have Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2019 Version 16.8.4 (it's free)
and it supports C11 and C17.
While an upgrade for Community is free, for Pro/Enterprise without an
annual license it's not.
Something that's hard for me to find a clear answer for in a few minutes of
searching:
Does the current version of the *Windows SDK* still come with a compiler, and
can it be used without the Visual Studio IDE [the situation is confusing
because it seems to install through the visual studio installer now] or at
least without a license for Visual Studio Pro/Enterprise [i.e. by users who do
not qualify for community edition] or with earlier versions of the Visual
Studio IDE?
The Windows SDK contains system headers/libs, no compilers.
Visual Studio includes MSVC, and is one of only a few bundles that does
(and if you have access to any of the others, you'll know by the massive
hole in your bank account, so let's assume Visual Studio). It will also
install the Windows SDK on your behalf if the box is checked, which it
is by default when you select C++ support.
*Anyone* is allow to use Visual Studio Community to work on open-source
software. So the only way to not qualify is to refuse to share whatever
you're working on. Obviously some people will be in that position, but
it's really not that onerous an ask (almost like the GPL, if you squint
;) ). Anyone contributing to CPython is allowed to use VS Community to
do so. [1]
Additionally, you can install VS Community alongside any other edition
or version and they will be kept separate (as much as is possible, which
is on Microsoft's side to deal with and shouldn't impact licensing).
Finally, the VS Build Tools are only licensed to you if you have a
Visual Studio license, which means you need to have qualified for VS
Community (or paid for a higher one) to use the build tools. Again, if
you're building open-source software, you've qualified, so it's
basically a non-issue for us.
Hopefully that settles some concerns. IANAL, but I am on the Visual
Studio team and have been involved in discussions around how VS
Community licensing applies to open source ecosystems ever since it was
first created. If you're still concerned, go pay a lawyer to give you
more opinions, because you honestly aren't going to find a more informed
opinion for free on the internet ;)
Cheers,
Steve
1: See page 8 of
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Visual-Studio-Licensing-Whitepaper-Mar-2020.pdf
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