Licensing fees for distributing Labview based software?

[mjs454]

Hi All,

I will be developing a data processing software package with GUI. I can't seem to find anything on the deployment of Labview based software... If I want to ship software that I develop with hardware that I've also developed what sort of restrictions or licensing fees will I face? I know I can compile my code into executables... will those customers be required to already have Labview or a license to use the software? Or will I have to pay a fee for each instance sold?

At this point I'm trying to determine what language to develop the program in... and I don't want to be paying royalties or forcing consumers to do the same. Also, what sort of platform compatibility is there with programs developed in Labview (linux/mac support, and how difficult?) Any help on this is more than welcome!

Thanks!
-Mike

[LV_Pro]

To compile into an exe you will have to have LabVIEW Professional development (I'm not sure without looking it up what version(s) have the ability to compile), The ability to compile into an exe isn't with every version. If your application uses any add-on toolkits there may be a deployment fee, not sure which ones. If it is "plain vanilla" LabVIEW then the end-user will have to download, or install if you include it with your distribution, the LabVIEW Run-time Engine. This can be done for free, but is a pretty big file. It isn't unlike Visual Basic or VC++, they too require run-time components, theirs just get installed as a part of Windows.

So, if you have a version of LabVIEW that allows you to build exe's, and you aren't using any components that require additional licensing, then there isn't any additional license/fees due National Instruments, As Far As I Know.

Do you have an idea of what components, or how you intend to use it?

[CoastalMaineBird]

There are no royalties - you can distribute your app as you see fit without paying NI any more.

The user must have a LabVIEW Run-Time Engine installed on the machine to use your app.

You can distribute that along with your app, or post a link to NI for them to get it themselves.

It might be best to create an installer which will install that for you, but that's your call.

[mjs454]

Thanks, that helps a lot. What we're doing shouldn't require any special toolkits and the hardware IC we're communicating with has a royalty-free driver that we can use, so that's good. I would think that we could have some install script that installs the Labview runtime from a CD that we ship? Also, would this work on multiple platforms, such as Linux or Mac?

Thanks again,

-Mike

[LV_Pro]

That is more difficult to answer. The Windows version has a lot of "features" that aren't available on the other OSes, so if any of those are used then it would be limited to running on either a Windows machine or a machine running a virtual Windows, I think. This is an area that I'm a little fuzzier about, haven't had recent projects on more than Windows platforms. The LabVIEW source code, with the above restrictions of Windows only functions, can be run on different LabVIEW environments, and as the LabVIEW Runtime Engine is basically the LabVIEW environment with the editing shell removed, it should allow running exe's on the various OS if the OS appropriate RTE has been installed.

[CoastalMaineBird]

would this work on multiple platforms, such as Linux or Mac?

You can distribute the SOURCE code, and it will work on Win/Mac/Linux, but the users have to own the LabVIEW DevSys for that platform.

You can distribute an APP for Win, another APP for Mac, another APP for Linux, but the user will have to have the LV Run-Time Engine installed for their platform.  That's free, and your installer can do it, or they can do it themselves.

Unless it's a fairly recent addition, you cannot cross-compile.  If you want to make a Mac app, you must have the Mac version of LabVIEW DevSys.  And beware the Windows-only features of LabVIEW.  The core of LabVIEW is cross-platform, but there are some features that are not.

There is not a universal app that will run on any platform.