More on Protecting Source Code

[David LeBlanc]

EXCUSE ME, but I'm not criticizing anyone! I am suggesting that Python could
be better. I've also been honest enough to say that I don't know what or how
that could be. Python didn't get where it is because people impuned the
motives who had things to say about it.

David LeBlanc
Seattle, WA USA

> -----Original Message-----
> From: python-list-admin at python.org
> [mailto:python-list-admin at python.org]On Behalf Of Frithiof Andreas
> Jensen
> Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 2:07
> To: python-list at python.org
> Subject: Re: More on Protecting Source Code
>
>
>
> "David LeBlanc" <whisper at oz.net> wrote in message
> news:mailman.1032232999.22661.python-list at python.org...
>
> > * Why invest a substantial amount of time and money developing in a
> language
> > that makes it trivial to gain access to the work product?
> >
>
> Why indeed - why do you bother?
>
> Why is existing Copyright law not sufficient for you?
>
> > beyond those that
> > are fairly closely licensed and/or have substantial parts of the app
> written
> > in C/C++.
>
> Do that then - there is nothing intrinsic in the Python licensing that
> restricts what you can do with it; I seem to recall that you can
> pretty much
> do whatever you bloody like, including wrapping Python in your own product
> and selling it!
>
> > A better solution is to make a .pyc file approximately as hard
> as a binary
> > .exe file to decompile - however that could be done.
>
> And according to the generous license awarded to you by the very people
> whoms work you are critisizing, *you* can indeed do that; you are in fact
> *encouraged* to make you own enhancements to Python and release them.
>
> Simple Darwinism will show whether others feels the same way.
>
> One could, in theory, package the application with a custom build of the
> Python interpreter so that each interpreter uses it's own unique set of
> bytecodes. Performance will likely suck and you will have a real
> issue with
> upgrades, extension modules and maintenance of the many unique
> applications
> shipped - but again this is your choice to make.
>
> Personally, I do not care - I like Python exactly the way it is, including
> the "openess", since that is an essential part of simplifying the
> development task. If I was really, really worried about some
> "IP-leakage" I
> would stick the core algorithm in an extension library - that
> would not stop
> someone from just ripping the software though.
>
>
>
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