This seems like it should be obvious, but I don't see anything stated specifically. I want to use HTML Help Builder to create the help messages distributed with a commercial Visual Studio .NET application. While I know how to set up the reference so that the .dll is automatically included in the installation file, I don't see any explicit statement that the .dll can be distributed royalty-free to my paying customers as part of my application. I'm getting questions from higher-ups...

I'm sorry, but not sure which DLLs are you referring to?

+++ Rick ---

HelpBuilderHelpProvider.dll, which is recognized as a Detected Dependency by Visual Studio and automatically added to the installation package.

Ah, so you're talking about the Help Builder Visual Studio Integration?

That actually has a full dependency on Help Builder, so while you can distribute that DLL, in order for any of the integration to work the end user has to have a license of Help Builder.

I have to check and see if that even still works in recent versions of Visual Studio. I'm noticing in latest versions that DLL is no longer shipped at all and I suspect the old VS addin wouldn't even work in recent versions of Visual Studio.

+++ Rick ---

Well, I'm still using VS 2008 (yeah, I know, beat me up).

So that's not actually needed for the end user (who's just using the compiled help file with a Visual Studio compiled application)? If so, I'll mark it to be excluded from the installation package.

Yes you don't need that DLL. That's part of the Addin registration, but that is not needed for distribution.

+++ Rick ---

OK, I'll exclude it. Thanks for the clarification.