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Many implementers choose to write their own skin and to develop custom portlets. uPortal's framework also includes well-designed APIs for adding authentication, user attributes, and performing other integrations. This means that it is practical to customize uPortal and there are many well-defined, supported-by-designed-APIs ways to do this.

uPortal is Free and Open Source Software. You are free to customize uPortal in any way you like and to do anything you like with your customized uPortal, including redistributing it to others.

The uPortal developers hope you'll speak up if you have a need to customize uPortal in a way that wasn't envisioned so that this can be designed into a next release of the software. The uPortal developers also hope you'll share your customizations. You're under no obligation whatsoever to do either of these things.

Do I have to tell anyone I'm using uPortal?

No. uPortal is Free and Open Source Software. You are free to use uPortal for any purpose and to tell anyone you like, or no one at all, that you are doing so.

However, the uPortal developers and community would appreciate hearing from you and hope you'll be comfortable listing your site or having your site listed on the uPortal website so that others can understand the value uPortal is providing.

What JavaScript toolkits does uPortal support?

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Since uPortal is Free and Open Source Software, there are no license fees to pay for uPortal and you are free to run uPortal on as powerful and as many servers as you like with no change to your zero dollar uPortal license fee.

Does uPortal have an active user community I can engage with?

Yes! Everyone is welcome to join our mailing lists, log into the IRC channel, attend our community calls, look at past presentations and attend our conferences. With the exception of the the conferences, most of this is available at no fee.

Do I have to pay for uPortal?

No. All versions of uPortal are 100% Free and Open Source. New releases are under the Apache 2 license. Prior releases have been under other, similarly permissive open source licenses.

You are free to adopt and use uPortal without paying anyone a dime and without contributing to the project and community in any way whatsoever.

However, the uPortal developers highly encourage your organization to become a Jasig member and help support the continued growth and improvement of uPortal, to become directly involved in submitting patches and contributing to the development of uPortal, to build fantastic portlets and share them as open source software, to answer others' questions about uPortal in the way you'd like your questions to be answered, and to engage with "enlightened self interest" in continuing to develop and maintain Free and Open Source software for the benefit of the entire uPortal community.

Seriously, how much is the license fee?

Zero dollars.

uPortal is Free and Open Source Software. You can download uPortal and all its source code, at no charge, from Jasig's website. This is the latest, greatest, and best version of uPortal available.

uPortal's license allows others to redistribute uPortal in any way they like under any terms they like, including as part of proprietary software. So you might purchase a license for proprietary software (from someone other than Jasig, since Jasig has no proprietary software and sells no licenses) that includes uPortal. This is possible because uPortal is Free and Open Source software under an open source license that allows anyone to do anything they like with the software, including sell licenses to it (or modified versions of it) to anyone who chooses to buy them.

You will never pay any license fee for uPortal itself as distributed by its source, Jasig, and you can always get the latest uPortal as released by Jasig from www.jasig.org and from Jasig's source control servers at no fee whatsoever.

uPortal as developed and released by Jasig is Free and Open Source software.

What kind of say can I have in the the features and future direction of uPortal?

You can enter feature requests in uPortal's Jira tracking system and participate in community discussions. You can even run for election to the uPortal Steering Committee and to the Jasig Board of Directors. You can also contribute to the project and help implement your desired features. Via an Apache-style meritocracy, you can be recognized by your fellow uPortal project participants as a core contributor with "committer" status and direct access to change the uPortal source code as it is developed towards release.

You can have as much influence over uPortal and its community as you can achieve through the respect and trust of your peers. You can have as much direct participation in the process that produces uPortal releases as you care to offer and as uPortal's community and committers care to grant in recognizing the worthiness of your contributions.

Wait, does this "participatory meritocracy" thing actually work?

Yes. It works really well. Some would say surprisingly well. Jasig didn't invent it – Apache probably didn't invent this either but certainly has proven out the model.

Can one uPortal installation host virtual portals?

Yes! You can host multiple portals on the same installation. Each portal can have its own domain name, look-and-feel, authentication mechanism and user attribute source.

Are there training and conferences for uPortal?

Yes! The annual conference offers four days of presentations and pre-/post-conference seminars. This conference is shockingly inexpensive for what it is and regularly offers quality focused technical content and seminars. An annual UnConference offers networking/discussion opportunities in a less structured format. Commercial partners periodically and on-demand offer uPortal training and are able to deliver custom training classes, mentoring experiences, co-development, technical support, assistance, examples, outsourced development, custom documentation, and basically any other professional service you could possibly be willing to pay for.

Can I buy technical support for uPortal?

Yes! At least one of Jasig's Partners and uPortal Solutions Providers offers technical support for uPortal.

Besides for-fee commercial SLA-driven technical support, there are self-support options for uPortal as well, in the form of active email lists, a giant email list archive, the wiki, and other resources.

Where can I get help?

Jasig maintains two user-facing email lists that might be of help: uportal-user and portlet-user. If you're interested in purchasing support or consulting services, please visit Jasig's list of commercial partners.

Can I contribute to uPortal?

Yes! You can also become a uPortal developer and contribute back to the project. Many of the features of uPortal were developed by local institutions, contributed back and now are part of the core product.

Archived FAQ