Python Shareware?

[Alex Martelli]

"Jian Chen" <jchen at 263.net> wrote in message
news:fb8b5496.0106071617.509bf5c7 at posting.google.com...
> I am considering writing some shareware in python. I got some
> questions about it:
>
> 1. Is there any good shareware in python? where can I find?

I've seen Parnassus described as "Python shareware", but it
ain't -- it's free stuff.  Python seems to be used for either
free or commercial projects -- haven't seen shareware in it.


> 2. Is python suitable to write shareware? as I konw, it is not easy to
> pack python programs in standlone exe program? is there any tools for
> the packing & installing of python software?

http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/py2exe/
http://www.mcmillan-inc.com/install1.html

Pythonworks, the commercial IDE which is at
http://www.pythonware.com/products/works/index.htm
also includes "deployment tools for Windows and Linux"
but I don't know the details.  A single license of
Pythonworks is US $395, I believe.  Anyway, it has
a demo/evaluation, so you can try it out completely.


> 3. How can I lock/secure my python shareware?

I pass!  I don't know of any way to 'secure' a
program that's more than, say, a weekend's work
to crack, for *ANY* programming language (I do not
think there are any, but a negative is hard to
prove:-).  If you can rely on your users having
internet access while running your program, the
whole picture changes -- you can then place some
key part of the whole operation on a site that is
fully in your control, and only accepts requests
(e.g. via SOAP or similar means) when it has
validated the requestor as a holder of a valid
license (it can track 'copied'/'pirated' licenses
by noticing too-frequent access requests, etc).

In most cases one would still be restricting one's
market too much by making a program unusable without
internet access.  Not a programming-language issue...


Alex