When code samples take dependencies, readers should be able to use the material without significant license burden or research on terms. This goal requires restricting dependencies to certain types of open source or commercial licenses.
Samples may take the following categories of dependencies:
- Open-source : Open source offerings that use an Open Source Initiative (OSI) approved license. Any component whose license isn't OSI-approved is considered a commercial offering. Prefer OSS projects that are members of any of the OSS foundations that Microsoft is part of. Prefer permissive licenses for libraries, like MIT and Apache 2. Copy-left licenses like GPL are acceptable for tools, and OSs. Kubernetes, Linux, and Newtonsoft.Json are examples of this license type. Links to open source components should be to where the source is hosted, including any applicable license, such as a GitHub repository (or similar).
- Commercial: Commercial offerings that enable readers to learn from our content without unnecessary extra costs. Typically, the offering has some form of a community edition, or a free trial sufficient for its use in content. A commercial license may be a form of dual-license, or tiered license. Links to commercial components should be to the commercial site for the software, even if the source software is hosted publicly on GitHub (or similar).
- Dual licensed: Commercial offerings that enable readers to choose either license based on their needs. For example, if the offering has an OSS and commercial license, readers can choose between them. MySql is an example of this license type.
- Tiered licensed: Offerings that enable readers to use the license tier that corresponds to their characteristics. For example, tiers may be available for students, hobbyists, or companies with defined revenue thresholds. For offerings with tiered licenses, strive to limit our use in tutorials to the features available in the lowest tier. This policy enables the widest audience for the article. Docker, IdentityServer, ImageSharp, and Visual Studio are examples of this license type.
In general, we prefer taking dependencies on licensed components in the order of the listed categories. In cases where the category may not be well known, we'll document the category so that readers understand the choice that they're making by using that dependency.