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I wonder whether it's actually legal to extract & independently redistribute these libraries. https://github.com/haileys/vc6-sys/tree/main/sdk/lib https://githu

I wonder whether it's actually legal to extract & independently redistribute these libraries. https://github.com/haileys/vc6-sys/tree/main/sdk/lib https://github.com/haileys/vc6-sys/tree/main/sdk/lib

garganzol 3y ago
Those files just reflect the publicly available Windows SDK, so it is pretty much ok to extract them - they reflect just a public domain knowledge. Actually, you can even create your own libraries with special tools like IMPLIB.
- criddell 3y ago
  The license says you cannot redistribute the debug version of the libraries. That’s okay though because the build tools are freely available from Microsoft. Don’t bundle them - just tell your users where to get them or auto-download them with wget or something like that.
  - ComputerGuru 3y ago
    That you can’t distribute the specific compilation of publicly available knowledge is different from recompiling (even all) that same knowledge into your own work. It’s why you can publish and have copyright over a book of quotes from dead people, but no copyright over the individual quotes themselves (which are in the public domain).
    - kragen 3y ago
      in the usa (and i think in berne convention countries in general) some quotes are long enough to be copyrightable, and the copyright can last decades after the author's death
      - zozbot234 3y ago
        SDK headers and linker symbols for core system libraries would enjoy very strong fair use protections, though. You can thank Oracle and Google for that.
        kragen 3y ago
        some fair use protections, but not very strong ones