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Tracker.exe and FileTracker32.dll source? #10714

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tamaynard opened this issue Sep 27, 2024 · 1 comment
Open

Tracker.exe and FileTracker32.dll source? #10714

tamaynard opened this issue Sep 27, 2024 · 1 comment
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gathering-feedback The issue requires feedback in order to be planned, please comment if the feature is useful for you

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@tamaynard
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tamaynard commented Sep 27, 2024

          There were a variety of factors that went into deciding to release as we did.
          - Previously, MSBuild was built as a sub-component of Visual Studio, and it had been relocated several times (though several source control systems!) over its lifecycle. Extracting just the subfolder would have been difficult, and older versions would not have built.
          - Internally, the release of Visual Studio 2015 corresponded with a clean break between Team Foundation Version Control and Git, so this repo has roughly the same amount of history as we have access to in the internal Git repo.
          - We did not release all of the code that makes up MSBuild internally. There are many deprecated or uninteresting components that we wanted to remain private, and excising them from one point-in-time release was easy.
          - We also held back some components for licensing reasons: `tracker.exe` and `FileTracker.dll` use the [Detours](http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/detours/) library, which is distributed as source but licensed commercially. To maintain license compliance, we kept that code internal.
          - Legal and policy reasons created incentives to release less source.

Originally posted by @rainersigwald in #621 (comment)

Now that Detours is MIT licensed, is there a chance that the source for Tracker.exe and FileTracker32/64.dll could be released, perhaps? I filed a ticket in the VS Developer Community portal a few months ago regarding an issue with build steps that emit output using the CreateFile2 API not being tracked, causing constant rebuilds. After a quick review of Detours, I feel that I should be able to submit a patch for the issue myself, if given the opportunity. Given the niche case I'm trying to cover I understand that it may not be a priority over higher-priority issues, which is why I am proposing a review on your end of the decision to release the source for these components. Assuming there are no further licensing issues (I have no reason to believe there would be, given the functionality of those components can be primarily implemented using only Detours), I see no reason why the msbuid team would not want to take advantage of the open-source ecosystem to assist in maintenance of these modules. Any thoughts or comments from anyone else?

@JanKrivanek
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Thank you @tamaynard for the report and for the offer to contribute.
Coincidentaly the issue was discussed last week and scheduled for fixing. In general we are not allowed to give any promisses neither dates. But this specific issue (CreateFile2 not being intercepted) should hopefuly be resolved soon.

There has been vague plans on replacing our Tracker with Detours - this however currently doesn't meet the bar. Neither does the OSS-ing of the existing code. Those discussions are reocurring regularly though.

@JanKrivanek JanKrivanek added the gathering-feedback The issue requires feedback in order to be planned, please comment if the feature is useful for you label Sep 29, 2024
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