OpenDAX is not a DCS, or a PLC or a SCADA system. Rather it's a framework that can be used to build all or parts of these things. The idea is to centralize and abstract real time data handling, logging and messaging in a way that allows other developers to build the control system that meets their needs without trying too hard to put a label on it.
OpenDAX is made up of four primary parts.
We call each unit of data in this system a "Tag". The tag server is a database of these tags. Tags can be created, read and written to from any of the client modules.
The client library abstracts the communication to the tag server for the client modules.
The client modules are where the real work gets done. These can communicate to hardware I/O devices, communicate to other systems, log data or implement control logic. The modules communicate to the tag server through either a local domain socket or a TCP/IP connection. The server and the modules can all run on the same machine or all on separate machines. It is up to the application developer to determine what works best for them.
The master program is used to start and stop the other parts of the system. It is not required but has the ability to monitor processes and start / stop them if they misbehave. Since OpenDAX is meant to be distributed, client modules can run on separate machines, the master program can be used on each of these machines to start and manage these clients.
OpenDAX is meant to be flexible and scalable, it should utilize the strength of the underlying operating system as much as possible. The modern Open Source operating system kernels are fantastic pieces of software that do their jobs very well. There is no sense in duplicating any of the functions that they perform.
Modules should also be dynamic, able to be started and stopped at runtime with no requirement for any central configuration.
The system can handle all the basic data types, including arrays and custom designed datatypes.
The database is intended to be dynamic, able to grow and shrink as the program runs.
OpenDAX is Open Source software. It is completely open source and currently there are no 'enterprise' or 'premium' features that are not included in the code base.
The core programs of OpenDAX are licensed with the GPL v2 and the libraries are licensed with the LGPL v2. See the COPYING and COPYING.LIB files for details.
At this point the code is at best, pre-alpha quality and it is not ready to be installed on production systems.
All parts of the system are open for modification at this time. This includes the ABI of the libraries as well as the communication protocol itself. The ABI will not be changed unless absolutely necessary.
OpenDAX uses the CMake build system generator. You'll need to install CMake on your system.
You will also need the Lua development libraries installed. Most distributions have versions of Lua that will work. The currently supported versions of Lua are 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 at the moment. If you install Lua from the source files you will need to add -FPIC compiler flag to the build.
make MYCFLAGS="-fPIC" linux
Once you have CMake and the Lua libraries installed you can download and build OpenDAX. First clone the repository...
git clone https://github.com/OpenDAX/OpenDAX.git
This should create the OpenDAX directory. Now do the following...
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
make test
If all the tests pass you can install with...
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig