In order to start using BitKeeper license keys in your open source projects, you need to be able to use the keys without putting them in the repository. See the explanation below for why the keys need to remain outside of repositories.

To use the license keys you can do one of two things, you can use a system level config file or set an environment variable.

System level config file
To install keys into a system level config file do the following:

vi /etc/BitKeeper/etc/config # cut and paste the license/licsign lines you were sent into the file

You will need to repeat this for all machines on which BitKeeper will be used.

Environment Variable
Instead of having license keys in a system level config, you may also choose to use the BK_CONFIG environment variable. The syntax for setting that variable and running a (sh) command is as follows:

BK_CONFIG='option:value;option2:value2;' bk cmd

or

# bash export BK_CONFIG='option:value;option2:value2;' # csh setenv BK_CONFIG='option:value;option2:value2;'

In commercial installation, license keys normally get installed in the BitKeeper/etc/config file of the repository. BitKeeper's license keys do not put hard restrictions on the number of users on a key. In commercial installations, this is okay because there are protections made in house that restrict usage to in-house developers and repositories are rarely made public. In the free-use world, repositories are almost always public so there must be restrictions in how license keys are installed for use on open repositories.

For customers moving status from free to commercial there are special considerations that need to be made in order to continue to publish source and also protect license keys. There are two methods that can be employed, using a system level config file or using a BK_CONFIG environment variable.

Hosted Projects
You can still continue to use bkbits.net and openlogging for your projects.