Shipping it on a machine
What to sort out before NEXT HMI leaves your building on a machine or panel PC you deliver to a customer. Running it in your own plant needs none of this.
1. Decide which build ships
| You ship | Build | What it asks of you |
|---|---|---|
| The official build, unmodified, with the product boot screen | Open-source | Pass the licence along and give your customer the source of that release — see Does the AGPL ask anything of me? |
| A build you modified | Open-source | Give your customer the source of what you shipped, your changes included |
| Your own logo on the boot screen, a signed build, or no source obligation for you or your customer | Enterprise | One licence per installation, once — see COMMERCIAL.md |
Your pages, themes, translations and custom widgets are yours in every row; Your project content is yours says why.
2. Pick hardware with a stable identity
Enterprise only. The enterprise build is activated with a key bound to the machine it runs on. A panel PC or industrial PC is the simple choice. A container or virtual machine works too once its identity is pinned: Docker on a Linux host with the host's network and machine-id, a VM with a static MAC address and activated after cloning. In Docker or a virtual machine has the steps.
3. Activate on the commissioning bench
Enterprise only. Start the enterprise build; it opens on an activation screen. Press Copy Device ID, send it to licensing@next-hmi.com, and paste the key you get back. The key is checked when a project starts, never against one already serving screens, and a replacement after a hardware failure is free. Licensing covers the activation screen in full.
4. Lock it down
- Device-admin password. It guards the Manager dashboard and the editor; keep it to the people who engineer the system. Set it before the machine goes on your customer's network. The live screens stay open to anyone who can reach the panel — see What is reachable without a password.
- Network. Put the panel on its own network segment, with a firewall in front — see Network advice.
- Usage reporting. If your customer's network allows no outgoing connections, ship with
NEXTHMI_TELEMETRY=off— see Usage reporting. - HTTPS. Turn it on when the panel is reached over a network you do not control — see HTTPS.
- Start on boot. The portable build runs in the foreground; wrap it in
launchd, Task Scheduler or a systemd unit — see Limitations. The offline Docker installer restarts the container with the host on its own — see Docker.
5. Hand it over
- Export the project from the Manager dashboard and keep a copy yourself — see Managing projects.
- Leave the licence files in place.
LICENSE,NOTICEand thelgpl/directory travel inside every build; they are part of what lets your customer use it.