[Fwd: Re: what are the most popular building and packaging tools for python ??]

[Neil Benn]

Steve wrote:

> <snip>
> (the suits are yet to be enlightened about
> the benefits of OSS).
>
<snip>
Hello,

         A word of warning, if you get a knowledgeable suit (hmm, I wear 
street clothes at work, does that make me a street!?!?) then they may 
start looking at reverse compilation.  This is something it it possible 
to do in most 'bytecode' languages - other bytecode implementations 
(java, .NET) use 'obfuscators' that will make your code unreadable if 
someone tries to decompile it.  To this end, I've not seen a python 
obfuscation tool - this is a real shame because it does mean I have to 
release my source code if I'm writing a commercial app.  To my mind the 
'make your client sign an agreement' policy doesn't always work, 
especially if I'm selling low value (sub $2K) tools where I don't want 
to go through the bother of waving a legal agreement under somebody's 
nose when I'm selling software (any more than a typical EULA) and I 
certainly wouldn't have the clout to enforce it!  This includes the EULA 
as well so you basically need a good licence manager.

   As to why I wouldn't open source my code - well what I'm doing hasn't 
been done before in my industry - if I release source code then someone 
can lift the ideas out of my code or simply bypass the licence manager 
to install multiple clients for the cost of one.  This means that I 
either have to write my licence manager in C or bridge out to another 
language.  Before you ask - I buy my music!!

   If anyone has heard of an obfuscator for python bytecode - let me 
know please.

Cheers,

Neil