Note: this information applies to MULTI and Green Hills Compilers version 4 or later

Foreword

Many of the host-based tools (i.e. those which run on the host system as opposed to the target embedded system) from GHS require license keys to operate. The product documentation contains detailed information about the licensing models available, as well as how to request, install and use those licenses. This page provides a summary of that information for users that may not have easy access to that documentation. The GHS RTOSes INTEGRITY and μvelOSity require development licenses, and in some cases source-code decryption keys, but the information in this document is not relevant to those types of licenses/keys.

All licenses are locked to a “server code”, which is basically a hash of some identifying information about a machine or dongle. Typically, this is something like the hard drive’s volume serial number, an ethernet (MAC) address, or the serial number of a dongle. When the license keys are used, the tools will verify that the server code is valid for the machine loading the keys. In the networked licensing models, only the server validates the server code; for the other models, the tools each validate the server code before running. If the tools are not able to validate the correct server code, they will not run. Sometimes such failures are due to running on the wrong machine or forgetting to install the dongle; in other cases it is possible that the supporting hardware (e.g. ethernet card) is no longer installed or available.

Licensing Models

There are two types of licensing available with MULTI and Green Hills Compilers: Legacy and GHS. Most users should use GHS licenses unless they have a good reason to use Legacy licenses. Legacy licenses will normally only be used if support for older versions of MULTI (i.e. older than v4.0.0) is required. Note that Linux platforms do not support Legacy licenses — all versions of MULTI on Linux use GHS licenses. As of MULTI 6 and Compiler 2012, only the GHS license model is available.

There are four licensing models available for MULTI:

Model	Available With	Description
Floating	Legacy & GHS, all platforms	License keys are installed on and managed by a license server on the network. Users contact that server to get keys.
Named-user	GHS, all platforms	License keys are installed on and managed by a license server on the network. Users contact that server to get keys. Licenses are reserved for particular users, which may be managed by an administrator on the license server.
Computer-locked	Legacy & GHS, windows only	License keys are installed on and used from one specific machine.
Dongle-locked	Legacy & GHS, windows only	License keys are locked to a hardware device (dongle) and licensed products may be used used from any machine to which the dongle is attached. MULTI and the license keys must be installed on each machine from which the dongle will be used.

Requesting Licenses

To request licenses for MULTI, either run the MULTI License Administration tool (which runs automatically if MULTI fails to get a license) or use the licensing site’s license request page. The license keys will be emailed to you, so be sure to provide valid contact information. Enter the information about the machine upon which you wish to use the license keys (be sure to use the license server machine for the networked license models).

If you are using this website, the server code may not be filled in automatically for you. To determine the proper server code, you should run the “servecode” executable from the MULTI installation. If you plan to use Legacy licenses, try running “servecode -l” to get the code; if you plan to use GHS licenses, try “servecode -g”. The alt server code would typically be the server code for the other type of license.

Enter information about the type of licenses you desire and any optional information you wish. A request will be prepared, and will normally be sent automatically to our licensing staff. Users preparing the request with the MULTI License Administrator will have the option of saving the request to a file for later emailing or faxing if desired.

Our licensing staff will review the request, contact you for further information only if necessary, and email you the license keys as quickly as possible.

Installing Licenses

The method for installing licenses depends on the platform and type of licenses.

GHS Licenses, all platforms

Normally, GHS licenses will be installed with the MULTI License Administration tool. From the starting screen, just go down the “Install a license from a file” or “Install a license which I already have” path.

Legacy Licenses, MS Windows

To install Legacy licenses on Windows, you will need to have the “Legacy Licensing Tools” installed. This is normally on the installation CD in the \licensing\legacy folder. Run the setup program to install the tools. Once the tools are installed, you may install the licenses by following the instructions for “GHS Licenses, all platforms” above.

Legacy Licenses, Solaris and HP-UX

To install Legacy licenses on these platforms, you should be able to just save the licenses as they were emailed to you, in the directory where MULTI is installed. The licenses were emailed embedded in a shell script, and you may just run that from a shell to install the licenses.

Finishing the Installation

After installing network-based licenses (i.e. Floating or Named-User), you need to configure your license clients (i.e. MULTI and the Compiler) to use the proper server. The GHS_LMHOST setting must be changed to point to the license server. Typically, you’ll want the value to be @<server hostname>, like @ghslm_server if your server is named ghslm_server. To simplify things, we recommend you use the MULTI License Administration tool to perform the configuration.

Using MULTI

Once the licenses are installed, you should be able to use MULTI normally. If you run into any problems, please contact GHS support.