1.1   Introduction

The activation of a SW License for CARRIDA on your device is possible in two different ways. You can either use a hardware profile of your system, a fingerprint, to obtain and manually install a license, or you can use a product key provided by CARRIDA to automatically download and install a license.

Both options are implemented using the fplc software tool which is part of the CARRIDA SDK. The fplc tool manages licenses on our system. Calling the program without arguments, or with the -h flag, displays a short list of command line options:

./fplc -h
 fplc [options] :
   -h [ --help ]            print a help message
   -f [ --fingerprint ]     create the HW fingerprint file (default: out.c2v)
   -a [ --activate ]        activate using vendor license file (default:
                          activate.v2c)
   -u [ --update ]          update using vendor license file (default:
                          update.v2c)
   -d [ --details ]         show information about the license status of the
                          product key
   --install                automatically fetch and install a license using the
                          given product key
   -v [ --verbose ]         verbose mode
   -o [ --output ] arg      fingerprint file output
   -i [ --input ] arg       license file input
   -p [ --product-key ] arg product key for activation
   -l [ --license-url ] arg url to activation server (default:
                          http://license.carrida-technologies.com:8080/ems/v76/ws )
   -s [ --status ]          show current status

The files which are required by fplc have default names. Input or output parameters are required only when you want to override these names. For example, if you want to store the fingerprint of an embedded board under a specific name (e.g. the serial number), you can use fplc as follows (serial in the example below would be the serial number of the board):

./fplc -f -o serial.c2v

1.2   Activation using a Product Key

A produkt key (PK) is a unique identifier which you can use to retrieve an activation file directly from the CARRIDA licensing server. You can obtain a PK from CARRIDA by requesting a demo/test license, or by buying commercial licenses.

The fplc tool automates the license retrieval from the CARRIDA server once you have a valid PK. With the given PK, specified by the '-p' option, and the '--install' option, a license will be fetched from the licensing server and immediately installed and activated:

./fplc -v --install -p 1234aaa-bbbb-cccc-5678-9ddddeee

1.3   Manual Activation using a Hardware Fingerprint

The manual actuvation of a CARRIDA license is a two step process which is also supported by the fplc tool (the details are given in the paragraphs below):

1. Use the fplc tool to create a fingerprint file out.c2v for your system and send it to CARRIDA in electronic form by mail.
2. The returned license file activate.v2c needs to be copied to a location which is accessible from your system. Then install and activate the license using the fplc tool.

The following steps are necessary in order to activate a license manually using the fplc tool:

1. Optional: Prepare your system

   This section is only required if your system has a read only file system by default, or if it has only a few specific writeable locations available. In these cases, CARRIDA needs to know where it can store the licensing information permanently.

   Create a writeable partition on the system and make this location the current working directory:

   
   

   cd /my_writable_folder
   

   
   

   Then create a folder which can be used as storage area for the license information:

   
   

   mkdir ./fp
   chmod a+rwx ./fp
   

   
   

   Then inform the CARRIDA SDK where it can find license key using an environment variable:

   
   

   export HASPUSER_PREFIX=/my_writable_folder/fp
   

   
   

   The environment variable HASPUSER_PREFIX needs to be setup each time before CARRIDA is used, and it must not change from the initially defined value. Any modification after creating the fingerprint or after activation will invalidate the license.

   Finally, either copy the fplc tool to the writeable folder, or add it to a location from where it can be invoked. The following sections assume that fplc resides in the location /my_writable_folder.

   
   

2. Create a fingerprint file

   Invoke the fplc program from the command line to create a fingerprint file. The fingerprint file is named out.c2v by default, and it is placed in the working directory. Use the -o option if you want to change the name of the fingerprint file.

   
   

   ./fplc -f [-o my_out.c2v]
   

   
   

   This will create an out.c2v file, or my_out.c2v if the -o option was used as shown above.

   
   

   /my_writable_folder/out.c2v
   

   
   

3. Send the fingerprint file to CARRIDA

   Send the newly created fingerprint file to CARRIDA, where it will be checked and processed. A license file, by default activate.c2v, will be generated and sent back to you.

   
   

4. Activate the license on the camera

   You should have received a licensing file activate.v2c from CARRIDA. Copy this file to your local writeable folder (see Step 1 above):

   
   

   /my_writeable_folder/activate.v2c
   

   
   

   Invoke the fplc program from the command line to activate the CARRIDA license for your system using the activation file.

   
   

   ./fplc -a [-i my_activate.v2c]
   

   
   

   If only the -a option is used, the default activate.v2c file from the current working directory is used. You can specify an alternative input file using the -i option as shown above.

   CARRIDA should be activated and ready for your board now.