FAQ

Getting Started

I downloaded the platform, but it doesn't do much. Why?

The OpenGamma Platform is a data-intensive system. Some of that data (like portfolios and positions) you'll have to integrate yourself. Some of that data (like security reference data, live and historical market data, and holidays and conventions) you typically have to pay for, and so we can't distribute. Even where there are systems capable of delivering this data that you might have on site (like Bloomberg terminals and RMDS installations), we can't release our integration modules under an Open Source license.

Simply put, the fastest way to get up and running with an OpenGamma Platform installation that has access to all the data sources that you need is to contact the OpenGamma sales team. Our Pre-Sales Engineers can setup all your market data feeds, provide you with our Excel Integration Module, and are experts at integrating with custom sources of portfolio, position, and security data.

Due to community feedback, an example dataset is now available in the 0.9.0 release

How can I build the OpenGamma Platform?

You'll need to get started by either downloading the OpenGamma Platform source code from http://developers.opengamma.com, or forking our repositories on GitHub. Then simply follow the instructions on Developing The OpenGamma Platform Itself.

Licensing

What is the license for the OpenGamma Platform?

The OpenGamma Platform is available under two different types of licenses:

• The Apache License v.2.0, which is our primary Open Source license, or
• A commercial license, only available to commercial customers of OpenGamma

Can I roll into production on the Open Source license?

Of course you can. The Apache License allows you to make free use of the platform, in binary or source code format. You also can make your own changes to the source code and distribute them inside your organization, or outside your organization, without permission or fees.

Do I need to release my proprietary code?

No. The Apache License doesn't have any "viral" or "copy-left" features. Any code which you write, either integrating with the core OpenGamma Platform, or modifying it, is owned by you and you can do whatever you want with it. There is absolutely no requirement that any proprietary code you write be released under any specific license.

Can I incorporate the OpenGamma Platform into a commercial product or service?

Yes. You can incorporate all or part of the OpenGamma Platform in your own commercial product or service without paying any licensing fee to the authors.

What do I get from a commercial license?

Aside from access to OpenGamma support and consulting services, and access to OpenGamma proprietary components (like our Bloomberg module and Excel integration), you get a license which contains traditional features such as:

• Explicit representations and warranties about the software;
• Indemnification against potential intellectual property violations in the software (of which there are none known); and
• A confidentiality clause covering any communications between your organization and OpenGamma.

Contributing Code

Can I contribute to the OpenGamma Platform?

Yes! We welcome contributions. See our guide to contributing.

Why do you insist on an IP assignment agreement?

Because commercial customers receive a license to the OpenGamma Platform with certain additional features above and beyond the Apache License, we have to have the legal authority to release the code under that license. However, our IP assignment agreement has an embedded license back to you to allow you to do whatever you like with that contribution.

Community Process

How do I get an account on Jira and Documentation sites?

In order to get an account on OpenGamma Jira and OpenGamma Documentation you need to first sign up for an account on the main OpenGamma developers site. When you do this, it will create an account in our Atlassian Crowd instance, and enable your accounts on Jira and Documentation.

We've had reports from some people that their logins don't work properly on Jira and Docs first time. If that happens, log out of Jira and/or Documentation, wait about half an hour, and try again. We're actively working on this, and should have a fix for it shortly.

Why do I have to sign up for a separate Forums account?

You'll notice that you need to create a separate account for OpenGamma Forums. This is because we're using a new forum software system called Vanilla, which doesn't currently have Crowd integration. We're working with the Vanilla team to do Crowd integration, and should eliminate this separate login at some point in the future.

Problems building and running the examples

When I run ant jetty my browser flashes to a page and then gives me a 503 error

You need tun the ant new-hsqldb task in OG-Examples to create a blank database before starting the engine.

When I run ant publish-all-local I get a message about unresolved dependencies

If you're seeing something like this

[ivy:resolve]           ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
[ivy:resolve]           ::          UNRESOLVED DEPENDENCIES         ::
[ivy:resolve]           ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
[ivy:resolve]           :: org.fudgemsg#fudge-java;latest.integration: not found
[ivy:resolve]           :: org.fudgemsg#fudge-proto;latest.integration: not found
[ivy:resolve]           ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
[ivy:resolve] 

then you haven't pulled down the Fudge-Java and Fudge-Proto projects. This can happen for two reasons:

1. You forgot to run ant clone-or-pull
2. You ran ant clone-or-pull and it printed an error, but you didn't notice
   If you're not sure, run ant clone-or-pull again (in the top level directory) and see if it reports any errors.
   If you see an error mentioning libcurl, it means you need to upgrade your version of git as GitHub have
   recently stopped supporting the older HTTP protocol and older versions of git don't have https support compiled in.
   Similarly if you get a 503 error back, it's probably the same issue. Upgrade git, restart your terminal session
   and run ant clone-or-pull again.

When I download the examples binary package for Windows a window flashes up when I double-click on the batch files

Unfortunately, with the current release, you can't just double-click on the batch files. You need to open a command window (run cmd.exe), change directory to the root of the unzipped distribution (not the scripts directory, the one above), and run the batch files from there

scripts\init-example-db.bat
scripts\start-jetty.bat

This obviously isn't ideal behaviour, and we're planning to change it for the next release.

When I run the Windows examples batch files or the Linux bash script files, I get a ClassNotFoundException for DBTool or other class

This is the same as the above problem, in Windows you need to open a command window (run cmd.exe), change directory to the root of the unzipped distribution (not the scripts directory, the one above), and run the batch files from there

scripts\init-example-db.bat
scripts\start-jetty.bat

in Linux you need to do similar, change directory to the root of the untarred distribution (not the scripts directory, the one above), and run the scripts from there

./scripts/init-example-db.sh
./scripts/start-jetty.sh

This obviously isn't ideal behaviour, and we're planning to change it for the next release.