Big changes are here!
In 2010 we released our multi-port MPEG4 video capture card with an open source driver (solo6x10) and in 2011 updated the driver to support our multi-port H.264 capture cards.
Later, this open source driver was later added into the mainline Linux kernel.
In 2013 we released our multi-platform surveillance application client with an open source (GPL) license.
We are proud to announce that Effective April 18, 2019 we have released the entire Bluecherry software application open source with a GPL license.
GitHub link – https://github.com/bluecherrydvr/bluecherry-apps
You may recall that in the past we have released our multi-platform OSX / Windows / Linux client and our hardware compression video capture cards (solo6x10) with GPL licenses.
So what does this mean for you?
Nothing, except now, if you wanted, you can dive into the source code of our server and see the inner workings all layers of our application.
So, I paid for licenses, what does that mean for me?
Your licenses are being converted to a commercial support license meaning that you will have access to email, forums and live chat support (like you do now). You own the software, it is yours to do what you like.
We will be offering a “Enterprise” support level that includes annual support subscription for phone, email, forums and live chat support. This will be geared more towards our enterprise customers who have mission critical (i.e – large) installations that need much more immediate support from us.
Does this mean development has stopped?
Not at all. Our updates had slowed for the past year as we were working with an enterprise customer making required changes that they needed but we are back!
Having all layers of our application open source gives the community a better idea of our software and allows us to work towards our goals faster.
Can I contribute to the software?
Yes, absolutely. All layers of our application will be hosted on GitHub, allowing easy access to view the source code and submit pull requests.
What is the Bluecherry application written in?
The client is written in mostly C++ using the Qt framework.
The server is written in mostly C++ and C, with PHP and some shell scripts for behind the scenes magic.
I want to use the free version without the support options, but I want to contribute back to the community, how do I do that?
While you are not required to purchase the software license from us, if you have a desire to contribute back to the software you can contribute in several ways.
- Assist with end-user documentation (We are working on moving our documentation to ReadTheDocs).
- Assist with developer documentation
- Assist with answering questions on the forums or Slack chat
- Tell your friends!
