Is redistribution of the C++ 2008 Redistributable Package forbidden?

Question

A naive mind would expect you're allowed to redistribute a package called redistributable. And a lot of software ships with the redist package and install them. But the software license terms of the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package clearly state: "You may not ... publish the software for others to copy".

I've read the answer to Can Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package be freely redistributed, but unfortunately the only source of information there is a 3rd party how-to that has no legal value.

Is there a legal way to ship the C++ Redistributable Package or do we have to point customers to the download page?

Background: We have permission to ship 3rd party dlls with our product but no influence otherwise on those dlls. These dlls need the 2008 c++ redistributable package. If I understood the situation correctly, we'd need a VS2008 license, to ship the microsoft-dlls with our application and create a clean setup procedure.

The Package I'm talking about.

Answer 1

You might be able to get redistribution permission from a Windows SDK. The Win SDK for Windows 7 with .NET 4 SDK contains the following files for MSVC++ 2010:

\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Redist\VC
    vcredist_ia64.exe
    vcredist_x64.exe
    vcredist_x86.exe

And the redist.txt file indicates:

Subject to the license terms for the software, you may redistribute the files listed below unmodified as a part of your installation package: [followed by the above list]

I don't have an earlier SDK installed at the moment, but I'd guess that an SDK released around 2009 might have the VC++ 2008 redistributable runtime files you're looking for.

---

Update:

The Windows SDK for Win 7 with .NET 3.5 SP1 does contain runtimes for VC++ 2008, but the redist permissions are not for the vcredist_xxx.exe format. That SDK provides redist rights for the raw DLLs and manifests to be used as part of your applications local directory structure. That still might give you what you need to install your application without having to use MSI and the merge files for the VC runtime.

For your convenience, we have provided the following folders for use when redistributing VC++ runtime files. Subject to the license terms for the software, you may redistribute the folder (unmodified) in the application local folder as a sub-folder with no change to the folder name. You may also redistribute all the files (*.dll and *.manifest) within a folder, listed below the folder for your convenience, as an entire set.

\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\redist\x86\Microsoft.VC90.CRT\
     Microsoft.VC90.CRT.manifest
     msvcm90.dll
     msvcp90.dll
     msvcr90.dll

etc...

Answer 2

If you can't get a VS license, ask one of your 3rd party dll provider to create a setup that includes the redistributable, then include the dll provider's setup in your installer.

It is the 3rd party dll provider's responsibility to make sure their dll work on machines without the redistributables after installing. The fact that none of your providers seems to be shipping with the redistributable dependency is surprising.

Answer 3

The Visual Studio Express Editions come with the necessary license, too. You'll have to register them with Microsoft, but they're free-as-in-beer.