Prevent installation of modules if license does not permit

[fips999]

There are quite a few modules falling under licenses such as "Microsoft Office Extensible File License". This license has a platform clause rendering it unusable in Linux and OSX:

(F) Platform Limitation- The licenses granted in sections 2(A) & 2(B) extend only to the software or derivative works that (1) are run on a Microsoft Windows operating system product, and (2) are not Excluded Products.

I wonder if it makes sense for NPM to enforce the license by preventing installation on non-Windows platforms

[sindresorhus]

That's IMHO outside the scope of npm, but the module author should set "os" in package.json to "win32" https://www.npmjs.org/doc/files/package.json.html#os

[fips999]

@sindresorhus haven't tried personally, but what happens if the os is set to win32 and a person tries to install the module in linux or osx?

[sindresorhus]

@fips999 it fails the install. this one only works on OS X, try it on something else: https://github.com/sindresorhus/finder-path/blob/675677ab938b6ac0150c106b9df3c803fe15eb1c/package.json#L16

[rlidwka]

Yep, it's outside of npm scope imho.

But it would make sense to ensure that non-free software doesn't exist in npm registry. I wouldn't want to install something only to find out that I agreed to a commercial license implicitly.

[fips999]

@rlidwka that's my fear as well