Obfuscating Python code

[Chris Angelico]

On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 5:59 AM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn
<PointedEars at web.de> wrote:
> That said, not distributing the source code of a program as well (or at
> least making it available to users in some way) strikes me as unpythonic
> since Python is at least Open Source software, and Python 2.0.1, 2.1.1 and
> newer are GPL-compatible Free Software.

gcc is also free software. Does that mean that all C programs should
be free software? No.

However, since all software can be reverse-compiled (particularly
byte-code like .pyc files), the only truly reliable way to make
completely closed software is to restrict access to it in all forms.
In today's world, that usually means providing it as a web service.
Otherwise, you have to assume that anyone can see your source. The
only difference between open-source and closed-source is the license,
not the ability to see stuff.

ChrisA