Ellié Computing Merge uses a licensing mechanism which
requires the licence key to be entered by each user. This is
generally a reasonable solution. However it can become a
problem if you are a system administrator and have many
colleagues who will use ECMerge.
This problem may arise in various situations:
the first time your users want to install ECMerge (for a
corporate trial for example)
the first time they install a full version of
ECMerge
when a new major or minor version of ECMerge is delivered
(e.g. within your support period or an extension of it)
Format
We implemented a solution which let you specify a licence
key upgrade mechanism. A simple XML file with the following
format can be saved to a system dependent place:
Each "upgrade" element describes a legitimate upgrade:
old-key represents the old key (that for the previous
version or the trial), it may be empty. If old-key is empty,
this upgrade is used for new users with no previous
key. If it is absent, the upgrade is applicable in any
condition.
users is a comma separated list of users logins. If is
absent, the upgrade applies to any user. If not, it applies
only to users with those logins.
new-key represents the key to use if the user had the old
key as current key.
NB: "upgrade" rules are applied top-to-bottom, and the
process stops after the first matching upgrade rule.
The reason for this upgrade mechanism (its ability to
upgrade differently based on an old key) is that all your
users may not have the same licencing key: ECMerge can be
configured through its licence key to limit its capabilities
(in order for you to obtain a lower price!). In this situation,
you may nonetheless want part of your users to have the full
power, for example, your SCC administrators. Of course if all
your users need to evolve toward the same new licence key, you
can specify several upgrade elements with same new-key.
Where to place and how to name that file?
The file should be named
"licences-upgrades.xml". It can be
placed in ECMerge program directory. On Unix
derived systems (Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X), this file is also
searched in /etc/opt/elliecomputing/ecmerge as
this directory may be more appropriate with respect to
usual backup or software update practices.
NB: licences upgrades are not checked when "--serial-number"
is specified. /etc is not searched neither if
"--app-settings-file" is used, so that bundled ECMerge does not
interfer with potential standard ECMerge installation.
