visual-c++licensingredistributablemsvcr90.dllvisual-c++-runtime

Can you redistribute msvcrtxx.dll from an app build using visual studio express?


When you download visual C++ 2008 express edition, this file exists:

./Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0/VC/redist/x86/Microsoft.VC90.CRT/msvcr90.dll

In the file redist.txt it says

The following list is a list of files available with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 for redistribution under the Visual Studio 2008 license. If the Microsoft software you have licensed is not Visual Studio 2008, only the files that are installed by the Microsoft software may be redistributed under such license.

and includes the above msvcr90.dll

So my question is, does this license allow you to distribute msvcr90.dll from express or not? What does "only the files that are installed by the Microsoft software" mean? Any help? (specifically, is it not allowed to distribute a version of msvcr90.dll with an app built by mingw/gcc).


Solution

  • My current thought is that you can probably get away with "running" MS's official msvc redistributable exe. as part of your install process (or possibly download it separately, if you detect they do not have it installed)

    See https://stackoverflow.com/a/9214753/32453