: Hi!
:
: I'm implementing a licensing software with Java. What is the easiest way to implement one?
:
: Is there any open source codes available?
:
: I've many different options in my mind.
:
: Main problems are with the key generator. How to do one?
:
: Also the license should include following information:
: - How long it will be valid
: - For what type of component it is valid for
:
: Help wanted, please.
:
Are you doing this to protect aa Java application you have developed ? FWIW - we took this route when we brought out our eXoDy Java application Generation Framework. How hard could it be ? The license manager project took much longer than we thought it would. I asked our chief developer why this was, and here is his quick view of what occurred:
1. Oh, this is simple, let's make a license manager.
2. Oh, but I'll need to build a proper easy-to-use
way to generate keys.
3. Oh, and I'll want to generate a large # of keys
in one shot.
4. Oh, and I'll need to support a number of
licensing models.
5. Oh, and I might want to be able to use as-yet-
not-conceived capabilities and new licensing
models I can't think of right now, because
I might want to play around with my product
pricing models a bit.
6. Oh, and I'll need to track customers and their
keys.
7. Oh, and products too.
8. And by the way, there needs to be a simple way
to programmatically generate keys from a web
site too.
9. And won't I need to be able to manage the keys:
Which customers' evaluation keys are expiring so I
can contact them and convert them into paying
customers? What is my distribution of product
sales by customer?
10. I'll also need to be able to audit keys
11. I then need to debug it and have some crackers
test it to make sure it actually is reasonably secure.
12. I'll need to stay current on new cracking techniques and
keep developing new protections against them.
etc., etc..
So our "quick homegrown solution" grew into several person-years of work even before we developed it into a general-purpose license management solution.
I am not suggesting that either you or our developers are anything other than very skilled, experienced people. However, as you know, projects that appear simple can easily balloon, delay your real product, and take time away from you adding value to your core product.
We've been down this route, and now make our 100% Java license manager available (www.easylicenser.com).
Hope this helps!
Dominic
