Application Licensing

[vampyreapocalyps]

Hey All,

Just wondering where applications keep their license files. We have FCS 5.1 and 2.0 here. We also have Adobe CS 2. I can easily make a package that contains the license files for all the licensed software we have, but I have no idea where to put it.

I know that, for example, when licensing soundtrack pro, I can install DVD Studio after the fact and since it’s in the same suite I don’t need to license it again. Is that the case with instaDMG?

Sorry for the stupid questions.

[Patrick Gallagher]

There is no one place they keep their license files. You will have to investigate each app. Some store them in /Library/Preferences, some in /Library/Application\ Support. Also, you will (should) only be capturing the licensing on apps that are volume licensed and use the same serial #. Otherwise, you’re not in compliance.

[vampyreapocalyps]

Right. Thanks.

We have volume licenses for all our software so that won’t be a problem. I’ve run into that issue many times before with Radmind.

Any help would be appreciated. I’ll start investigating but I’m lazy 😛

[Patrick Fergus]

There are a few ways to do it right, and billions to do it wrong.

The attributes of “right” includes:
– World-readable (e.g. /Library/Application Support)
– Automatically serialized for all users who may log into the machine

Desirable “right” attributes include:
– License is portable from machine to machine (if you’re buying enough licenses, the developer may bend and let you distribute a version of their program that doesn’t bind the license to one machine)
– Sensible naming and location
– Sensible rights (license shouldn’t need to be world-writable)

“Wrong” attributes include:
– Putting the license anywhere in the user’s directory. Note you may be able to put the license into the same point at the root of the hard drive vs. the user’s directory

I’m all for software developers protecting their licenses, but an admin need to not have to pull his or her hair out when distributing software. If you have a question about a specific piece of software, let us know.

– Patrick

[vampyreapocalyps]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Primarily I’m interested in Adobe CS2, FCS 2.0, FCS 5.1, ARD 3, and Diskwarrior 3.

Thanks!

[jasonpgignac]

Just as an interesting side note to this –

At my company (and perhaps others would have input on whether they consider this a best practice?) I try to keep the registration key file(s) in a seperate package. This gives two benefits:

1) If I have a software with many individual licenses, I can keep a folder full of license pkgs, and just push the one needed for a particular client
2) If the key changes (for instance, we just went through a merger, and now ahve to use the new companies license keys for Adobe and Microsoft), then there is no need to rebuild the outside Pkg.

[vampyreapocalyps]

This is what I have started doing. I have to agree it does make licensing non-VLK software easier.

[Patrick Fergus]

[QUOTE][u]Quote by: vampyreapocalyps[/u][p]Thanks for the replies so far.

Primarily I’m interested in Adobe CS2, FCS 2.0, FCS 5.1, ARD 3, and Diskwarrior 3.

Thanks![/p][/QUOTE]——-

CS2: /Library/Application\ Support/Adobe/Adobe\ Registration\ Database
Pretty much everything of the CS1/CS2 generation puts its registration in here–be [b]very[/b] careful if you have individual licenses mixed with corporate. I’d suggest keeping backup copies of your Adobe Registration Database handy. Oh, [i]and[/i] it needs to be world-writable, IIRC. Acrobat will randomly puke if it can’t write to this file.

FCS 2 and 5.1: I don’t know.

ARD 3: Unfortunately, this one isn’t portable AFAIK. It binds itself to the machine when serialized. Perhaps consider Apple’s included Screen Sharing app in Leopard? It satisfies the needs of 4/5 of our current ARD users.

DiskWarrior 3: Serial number ends up inside the application itself. Once serialized, it shouldn’t prompt again for a license.

– Patrick

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