Hi.  I've been using a lot of text files recently, and I'm starting to worry 
about a user hacking some element by editing the text files.  I know that I can 
pickle my data instead, creating less easily editable (try saying that five 
times fast) .dat files, but I'd rather store individual variables rather than 
lists of objects.  Is there a way to make my text files either read-only or 
saved in some way that they can't be opened, or at least not so easily as 
double-clicking on them?  I just want some slightly more secure code, though 
it's not too important.  I just thought I'd ask.
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Any file will eventually be able to be reverse engineered, but it matters how 
much effort you care to obfuscate it. The way you can do it will vary based on 
your OS. 

For Windows, you can change the file extension to something that is not read by 
most text editors '.zxy'. It will still be able to be read if they try and open 
it with a text editor, but double clicking  will not work by default. You can 
also try setting the file attribute directly: 
http://code.activestate.com/recipes/303343-changing-file-attributes-on-windows/ 

For *nix/OS X, you can prepend the file with "." as those files are hidden by 
default on most *nix systems I have used. You can also try to use 
os.chmod(0###, 'filename').


Keep in mind that all of these solutions are probably user reversible since the 
application will have the permissions of the user account it is run as; in most 
cases this is the same as the logged in user.



Ramit


Ramit Prasad | JPMorgan Chase Investment Bank | Currencies Technology
712 Main Street | Houston, TX 77002
work phone: 713 - 216 - 5423

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