What license does F# 2.0 (2010) use?

Question

Is F# 2.0, released in 2010, still under the Microsoft Research Shared Source License Agreement? I know this question was asked for F# version 1, but I got the feeling that things might change with F# 2.0.

Is this license considered free and/or open?

Answer 1

Take a look at a license link on the download page. Still under the SSLA.

Answer 2

Other people answered with regard to the current license. I'll note that it is neither free nor open as defined by the FSF and OSI. Among other things, it has serious non-commercial restrictions. E.g. you can't distribute source code for commercial purposes.

There are only two free Microsoft licenses, the Microsoft Public License and Microsoft Reciprocal License.

Answer 3

(IANAL)

I think the short answer is

• There are bits that ship with VS2010 (e.g. compiler, IDE, ...). They're subject to the VS2010 license, which is presumably somewhat restrictive.
• There is the F# Runtime (FSharp.Core.dll), which is a redistributable package. You can e.g. chain it into the install/setup of your own app.
• There is the F# CTP. It essentially contains the same bits as the VS release, minus the VS IDE support. It also has source code. It's under the MS Research license, which is less restrictive.
• There is the PowerPack, a library with source, I forget what license it has.
• In the future, there may be an open-source release of the compiler, which would be like the CTP, but with an even more permissive license (the kind of license the FSF folks like).

In general, with each download, there should be an accompanying license which you can read.

EDIT

(November 4, 2010) Now the F# compiler/runtime source is available under the Apache license, see here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dsyme/archive/2010/11/04/announcing-the-f-compiler-library-source-code-drop.aspx