Legal blockers regarding WSL release?
by CJ Harries
In May 2017, Rich Turner from Microsoft mentioned that a Fedora release would be coming to WSL (https://web.archive.org/web/https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/ne...). In June 2019, Matthew Miller from Fedora said there was a "blocker [in] the legal agreement for [the Fedora Project] to put the installer in the [Microsoft] store" (https://web.archive.org/web/https://twitter.com/mattdm/status/11409576086...). I'm unable to find anything on the wiki (https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Category:Legal) or here in the legal mailing list that explains either the cancellation or the blockers. Normally I'm able to find great explanations regarding legal issues, so this must have slipped through the cracks.
1. What are the legal blockers in the MS App Developer Agreement (https://web.archive.org/web/https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/window... I noticed some language regarding FOSS that might not be GPL compatible. If that's not the right agreement, which one is and what are its issues?
2. WSL 2 introduced a boilerplate project to connect new distros (http://web.archive.org/web/https://github.com/microsoft/WSL-DistroLauncher). I believe (haven't tested; please correct me if wrong) it can be run only using newer Microsoft FOSS tools under an MIT license. Could this tool be used in an official capacity? If not, what are the blockers?
3. WSL 1 was explicitly not FOSS (http://web.archive.org/web/https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/1). As far as I know, WSL 2 still relies on Hyper-V, so, even hypothetically supposing everything else about WSL 2 is open source, could WSL 2 fall under acceptable licensing criteria? Microsoft discussed some of the tweaks they made if the hypothetical is unrealistic (http://web.archive.org/web/https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/shi...).
4. Tom Callaway (a Fedora legal liaison w/o notable mutant powers http://web.archive.org/web/https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Spot) provided some excellent suggestions for Microsoft two years ago regarding Microsoft packages being accepted by the Fedora Project (http://web.archive.org/web/https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/...). Are there similar suggestions users can send to Microsoft to champion acceptance?
In doing research to present these questions, I think I have a general idea regarding WSL. However, earlier in the legal thread I linked (http://web.archive.org/web/https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/...), Tom explicitly asks for no idle speculation, so I'd prefer an experienced opinion.
I really appreciate all the hard work that goes into this. As a developer, not a lawyer, this topic can be very esoteric at times. Microsoft has been making an effort to move away from EEE in recent years, so getting some perspective from the Fedora team regarding their efforts would be very useful to FOSS stewards.
Thanks for your time! Have a rad day.
3 years, 10 months
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