You can install the LTSC toolchain without a license. Just not the IDE.

That's not correct. You don't have to give your credit card details or even be logged in but you are still required to have any Visual Studio license. For hobbyists and startups the VS Community license is enough but larger companies need a VS Professional license even for the VS Build Tools.

How strict Microsoft is with enforcement of this license is another story.

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anankaie 6 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

You do not need a Professional or Enterprise license to use the Visual Studio Build Tools:

> Previously, if the application you were developing was not OSS, installing VSBT was permitted only if you had a valid Visual Studio license (e.g., Visual Studio Community or higher).

From (https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cppblog/updates-to-visual-stu...). For OSS, you do not even need a Community License anymore.

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dgxyz 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Fair. Although I tend not to give a crap about Microsoft licensing :)

	▲	okanat 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Well, let's say this is the world view of all companies about open-source software. Then what happens. If people "tend to not give crap" about licenses, all the nice guarantees of GPL etc also disappear.