Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!usenet.pasdenom.info!news.dougwise.org!nntpfeed.proxad.net!proxad.net!feeder1-2.proxad.net!news.glorb.com!news.astraweb.com!border6.newsrouter.astraweb.com!not-for-mail From: Ben Finney Newsgroups: comp.lang.python Subject: Re: obviscating python code for distribution References: <87boz3gw5u.fsf@benfinney.id.au> <877h9rguak.fsf@benfinney.id.au> X-Public-Key-ID: 0xAC128405 X-Public-Key-Fingerprint: 517C F14B B2F3 98B0 CB35 4855 B8B2 4C06 AC12 8405 X-Public-Key-URL: http://www.benfinney.id.au/contact/bfinney-pubkey.asc X-Post-From: Ben Finney Date: Tue, 17 May 2011 10:27:48 +1000 Message-ID: <87y626f9x7.fsf@benfinney.id.au> User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.3 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:EwfqVR9jez7b/2RtF/ip3IzM+S0= MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Lines: 40 Organization: Unlimited download news at news.astraweb.com NNTP-Posting-Host: df54362b.news.astraweb.com X-Trace: DXC=k4gSY5falJBc_WgCkn9MLEL?0kYOcDh@JN7:H2`MmAUCNUD]k];EK]N]G;2>V^?kWCbEW9A[5UK?ENZ[SL`C\KgCQfdghBGD?e@ Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.python:5540 Grant Edwards writes: > On 2011-05-16, Ben Finney wrote: > > "Littlefield, Tyler" writes: > > > >> I'm putting lots of work into this. I would rather not have some > >> script kiddy dig through it, yank out chunks and do whatever he > >> wants. I just want to distribute the program as-is, not distribute > >> it and leave it open to being hacked. > > > > How do these arguments apply to your code base when they don't apply > > to, say, LibreOffice or Linux or Python or Apache or Firefox? > > One obvious way that those arguments don't apply is that the OP didn't > put lots of work into LibreOffice, Linux, Python, Apache or Firefox Yet the copyright holders *did* put lots of effort into those works respectively. So the arguments would apply equally well; which is to say, they don't. > > How is your code base going to be harmed by having the source code > > available to recipients, when that demonstrably doesn't harm > > countless other code bases out there? > > The owner of something is free to determine how it is distributed -- > he doesn't have any obligation to prove to you that some particular > method of distribution is harmful to him or anybody else. Note that I didn't say anything about obligation or harm to persons. I asked only about the code base and the distribution thereof. In the meantime, Tyler has come back to us with arguments that *do* differentiate between the above cases and his own. So thanks, Tyler, for answering the questions. -- \ “Of course, everybody says they're for peace. Hitler was for | `\ peace. Everybody is for peace. The question is: what kind of | _o__) peace?” —Noam Chomsky, 1984-05-14 | Ben Finney