Download OpenERP

2011-02-24T20:21:00.000-08:00

Download OpenERP 6.0
Windows Auto-Installer
Auto-installers, Release 6.0.1
All-In-One Server GTK Client Web Client

Sources & Packages
Source tarballs, Release 6.0.1
Server Client Web Client

Download OpenERP 5.0
Windows Auto-Installer
Auto-installers, Release 5.0.15
All-In-One Server GTK Client Web Client

Sources
Source tarballs, Release 5.0.15
Server GTK Client Web Client

OpenERP

2011-02-24T19:42:00.000-08:00

OpenERP is an open source comprehensive suite of business applications including Sales, CRM, Project management, Warehouse management, Manufacturing, Accounting and Human Resources. OpenERP has separate client and server components. XML-RPC interfaces are available.

It is based on a strong MVC architecture, flexible workflows, a dynamic GUI, an XML-RPC interface, and customizable reporting system with convenient OpenOffice.org integration. On January 20, 2011, OpenERP s.a. announced the release of OpenERP version 6.0, including an "on-demand" on line(SaaS) version.^[1] It can also be downloaded or just review the demo. version. Its modular approach allows customers to start with one application and then add other modules as they go.

Business model

OpenERP follows a commercial open source business model. The development and community efforts are managed through Launchpad, using the Bazaar versioning system. The company maintains the copyright and determines what is accepted into the software code base and the direction of the software. The OpenERP community is organized on the OpenObject website, where you can find the forums, the IRC and all the available modules for OpenERP. The documentations are also managed on launchpad but a website dedicated to all books has been set up in 2009.^[2] The OpenERP book was updated for the new version and can be downloaded for free.

OpenERP is claimed to set up a business model with a win-win relationship between the community, the partner network and the editor. The partners are intended to create the market around OpenERP and the service offers, the editor is responsible for the quality and the vision on the development of the product and the community generates activities and contribute to the growth of the product. All modules produced by the editors, the partners and the community are to be open source.^[3]

License

Owner of the OpenERP solution is Belgium-based OpenERP s.a. (previously Tiny sprl). Up to version 6.0, OpenERP Server and the GTK+ client were released under the General Public License. Since version 6, OpenERP Server and GTK+ client are published under AGPL version 3.0.^[4]

There are two licenses, the first one is the GPL, which is used for the GTK client and for the server. Some addons use this license. The second license is for the web client and is distributed under the “OpenERP Public License”. It’s based on Mozilla Public License (MPL) Version 1.1 with following restrictions:

All names, links and logos of Open ERP must be kept as in original distribution without any changes in all software screens, especially in start-up page and the software header, even if the application source code has been changed or updated or code has been added.
You can use the configuration interface to replace the “Made by Tiny & Axelor” logo by your own logo but you must keep all others references to Open ERP as it.
All distributions of the software must keep source code with OEPL.
All integrations to any other software must keep source code with OEPL.

Just like the Mozilla Public License those restrictions renders the web client license incompatible with the GNU GPL.

Architecture

The software is easy to use and users can choose whether they want to use a web browser pointed at the OpenERP client server or use an application client (GTK client) installed on each computer.

An OpenERP system has three main components :

PostgreSQL dataserver which has all the databases
OpenERP application server that has all of the enterprise logic
web server, a distinct application called the Open Object client-web, which allows you to connect to OpenERP from any web browser. This is not needed if the user connect through a GTK client.
Requires web browser with flash plug in, because OpenERP uses flash components.

Its integrated business intelligence capabilities allow multiple users to be able to handle all the aspects of the software. The reports and work flows that you require can be customized.

The server part is written in Python. Business functionality is organised into "modules". A module is a folder with a pre-defined structure containing Python code and XML files. A module defines data structure, forms, reports, menus, procedures, workflows etc.

The client is thin as it contains no business logic. (Adding new objects, such as menus or forms, makes it available to any client; one OpenERP-server can be accessed by any type of client: gtk+, web or Qt).

The GTK+ client is the default and is based on the PyGTK (Python) platform.

The Web client is written in Python. It uses the turboGears platform up to version 5.0.1. Though content-wise GTK+ and web clients are equivalent, there are some differences in the functionality of the interface, e.g. the web client can have a "customise" link on every form but the gtk+ client has no comparable feature.

Development environment

There is no integrated development environment. Python code must be edited in an external editor. There is no official or de-facto editor, although recent community tutorials tend to go towards Eclipse/PyDev based development.

Some application logic (i.e. workflows and data structure) can be changed through the client interface.

A tutorial gives an example of using a tool called DIA for visual creation of a module and saving (via a plugin) into a folder structure suitable for OpenERP.

A gEdit(text editor) plugin has also been created (if running Linux on the desktop) that speeds up development by generating code in the correct syntax for OpenERP. This approach leverages the snippets capabilities of gEdit. A video is available demonstrating this capability.

Tryton is a fork of OpenERP which began development in November 2008.

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenERP}