Protecting Python source

[Thomas Heller]

adsheehan at eircom.net (Alan Sheehan) writes:

> Hi pythonistas,
>
> I am looking for methods of deploying applications with end users so
> that the python code is tamper proof. What are my options ?
>
> I understand I can supply .pyc or .pyo files but they can easily be
> reverse engineered I am told.
>
> Is it possible to load the scripts from zip files where the zip files
> are password protected ?
>
> Any other ideas ?

For py2exe created distributions, the simplest and imo most effective
thing is to specify a different extension for the source archive, maybe
app.lib instead of library.zip.  This way, there's at least no hint that
is is a zip archive.

For passwords, aren't there lots of zipfile password crackers out there?
And even in a password protected zipfile you are still able to see the
filenames iirc, and unless that has changed.

Thomas