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If someone wants to use parts of a code licensed under MS-PL and use it in a commercial product, is that allowed by MS-PL? What are the restrictions.

user61392
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  • This question is a "a practical, answerable problem that is unique to software development" No? If it's off topic then where should this question be asked? Please reopen. – Booji Boy Feb 26 '15 at 18:56
  • See [Questions about licensing](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/274963/questions-about-licensing) – showdev Dec 03 '15 at 22:42
  • [Understanding the Microsoft Public License (MS-PL)](https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/q/85301/98103) – phuclv Mar 20 '19 at 03:40

1 Answers1

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It's the Microsoft Public License (Ms-PL). Yes, you can pretty much do whatever you want with the code.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/msp-n-p/ff648068(v=pandp.10)

However, do read the conditions. Ones worth noting:

  • If you distribute any portion of the software, you must retain all copyright, patent, trademark, and attribution notices that are present in the software.

  • If you distribute any portion of the software in source code form, you may do so only under this license by including a complete copy of this license with your distribution. If you distribute any portion of the software in compiled or object code form, you may only do so under a license that complies with this license.

NOTE: the MS-PL appears to be deliberately incompatible with the GPL.

Booji Boy
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  • Is this substantially different than the BSD or Apache license? – Steve Rowe Mar 11 '09 at 06:01
  • Yes, I think is a "BSD style" license. – Booji Boy Mar 11 '09 at 15:08
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    Except that it appears to be deliberately incompatible with the GPL, which I deplore. There's enough license incompatibilities already, and making more is a Bad Thing. – David Thornley Jun 04 '09 at 17:31
  • As I see the 2 conditions you mentioned only apply to the actual ASP.NET MVC code/binaries. So you can't relicense their code. But you can license your code as you wish as long as you add a copy of Ms-PL license with your project. – gligoran Nov 19 '10 at 18:29
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    The incompatibility with the GPL ought to be pointed out *in* the answer rather than in the comments. – 0xC0000022L Apr 02 '16 at 12:17
  • ok, I added the following "NOTE: the MS-PL appears to be deliberately incompatible with the GPL." and updated the broken link. – Booji Boy Apr 04 '16 at 18:40