You cannot obfuscate the input to an interpreter. It has to be in a format that the interpreter will recognize, which necessarily means that people can also read it. If you really need to hide your source code, you have to switch to a compiled language with an actively optimizing compiler. Then only distribute the output from the compiler. Even then there may be de-compilers or disassemblers that can reconstruct much of your source in readable form.
Bob McConnell > -----Original Message----- > From: jbiskofski [mailto:jbiskof...@gmail.com] > Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 1:30 PM > To: timothy adigun > Cc: John SJ Anderson; Perl Beginners > Subject: Re: obfuscating code > > I see everyone is eager to judge this as a terrible idea, its the exact > same response Ive gotten to this question on mailing lists on IRC. > > HOWEVER, I think this can be a valid concern. We are always talking about > how the best way to shine good light on Perl is writing cool stuff in it. > > Well Ive actually gone out a built a company that does a HUGE LMS in Perl, > its used by over 300K students in Mexico ( www.algebraix.com ), and > employs > 18 people. I dont think its stupid of me to worry about someone getting > into my servers somehow and stealing the code. I have to think of the > people who work here and their job security, I also have to worry about my > competitors, I dont know how ethical they are or are not. > > So yeah I think this questions should be given more thought and not just > discarded as immediate stupidity. > > my $two_cents. > > - Jose Biskofski > > > On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 12:01 PM, timothy adigun > <2teezp...@gmail.com>wrote: > > > On 12 Feb 2013 18:56, "John SJ Anderson" <geneh...@genehack.org> > wrote: > > > > > > >> On Feb 12, 2013 7:05 PM, "Rajeev Prasad" <rp.ne...@yahoo.com> > wrote: > > > >>> what is the advice just for obfuscating code? platform is solaris. > > > > > > I think you're getting the idea, at this point, that this is > > > considered a bad idea, regardless of what platform you're targeting. > > > > > > You may have an actual issue, but unless you explain to us what you > > > thought you were going to achieve via obfuscating your code, we're not > > > going to be able to help with that. > > > > > > Also, I'm a little disappointed in the "it's Perl, it's already > > > obfuscated" answers. If you think the Perl you're writing is > > > pre-obfuscated, you're doing it wrong. My Perl code is idiomatic, easy > > > to read and understand, and as clear, if not more so, than code > > > written in any other language. One of the common criticisms of Perl is > > > that it's a "write-only language". This is, frankly, bullshit -- but > > > having people on a list aimed at helping Perl beginners promote that > > > bullshit only makes it more odorous. Please stop. > > > > +1 John. I can't agree more. > > > > > > thanks, > > > john. > > > > > > -- > > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: beginners-unsubscr...@perl.org > > > For additional commands, e-mail: beginners-h...@perl.org > > > http://learn.perl.org/ > > > > > > > > -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: beginners-unsubscr...@perl.org For additional commands, e-mail: beginners-h...@perl.org http://learn.perl.org/
