Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure
Encyclopedia
The Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure (SSCLI), previously codenamed Rotor, is Microsoft
's shared source
implementation of the CLI
, the core of .NET. Although the SSCLI is not suitable for commercial use due to its license, it does make it possible for programmer
s to examine the implementation details of many .NET libraries and to create modified CLI versions. Microsoft provides the Shared Source CLI as a reference CLI implementation suitable for educational use.
announced they would release part of the .NET framework
infrastructure source code in Shared source
through ECMA, as part of the C# and CLI
standardization process.
On March 2002, Microsoft released version 1.0 of the Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure, also called Rotor. The Shared Source CLI was initially pre-configured to run on Windows
, but could also be built on FreeBSD
(version 4.7 or newer), and Mac OS X
10.2. It was designed such that the only thing that needed to be customized to port the Shared Source CLI to a different platform was a thin Platform Abstraction Layer
(PAL).
The last 2.0 version of SSCLI was released on March 2006, and contains most of the classes and features of version 2.0 of the .NET Framework
. SSCLI 2.0 can be downloaded directly from Microsoft downloads and requires perl and Visual Studio 2005 running on Windows XP SP2 to compile. Microsoft has not updated the source and build requirements since 2006. Even Microsoft MVPs
, important part of Microsoft community ecosystem, complained about the lack of support for other Visual Studio versions and Operating Systems. However, a non-official patch for Visual Studio 2008 was provided by a Microsoft employee in the MSDN Blog and another for Visual Studio 2010 was released by the community.
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's shared source
Shared source
Shared source is an umbrella term covering some of Microsoft's legal mechanisms for software source code distribution. Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative, launched in May 2001, includes a spectrum of technologies and licenses...
implementation of the CLI
Common Language Infrastructure
The Common Language Infrastructure is an open specification developed by Microsoft and standardized by ISO and ECMA that describes the executable code and runtime environment that form the core of the Microsoft .NET Framework and the free and open source implementations Mono and Portable.NET...
, the core of .NET. Although the SSCLI is not suitable for commercial use due to its license, it does make it possible for programmer
Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...
s to examine the implementation details of many .NET libraries and to create modified CLI versions. Microsoft provides the Shared Source CLI as a reference CLI implementation suitable for educational use.
History
Beginning in 2001, MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
announced they would release part of the .NET framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
infrastructure source code in Shared source
Shared source
Shared source is an umbrella term covering some of Microsoft's legal mechanisms for software source code distribution. Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative, launched in May 2001, includes a spectrum of technologies and licenses...
through ECMA, as part of the C# and CLI
Common Language Infrastructure
The Common Language Infrastructure is an open specification developed by Microsoft and standardized by ISO and ECMA that describes the executable code and runtime environment that form the core of the Microsoft .NET Framework and the free and open source implementations Mono and Portable.NET...
standardization process.
On March 2002, Microsoft released version 1.0 of the Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure, also called Rotor. The Shared Source CLI was initially pre-configured to run on Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, but could also be built on FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
(version 4.7 or newer), and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
10.2. It was designed such that the only thing that needed to be customized to port the Shared Source CLI to a different platform was a thin Platform Abstraction Layer
Abstraction layer
An abstraction layer is a way of hiding the implementation details of a particular set of functionality...
(PAL).
The last 2.0 version of SSCLI was released on March 2006, and contains most of the classes and features of version 2.0 of the .NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
. SSCLI 2.0 can be downloaded directly from Microsoft downloads and requires perl and Visual Studio 2005 running on Windows XP SP2 to compile. Microsoft has not updated the source and build requirements since 2006. Even Microsoft MVPs
Microsoft Most Valuable Professional
The Microsoft Most Valuable Professional is the highest award given by Microsoft to those it considers "the best and brightest from technology communities around the world" who "actively share their ... technical expertise with the community and with Microsoft"...
, important part of Microsoft community ecosystem, complained about the lack of support for other Visual Studio versions and Operating Systems. However, a non-official patch for Visual Studio 2008 was provided by a Microsoft employee in the MSDN Blog and another for Visual Studio 2010 was released by the community.