[Tutor] passwords in scripts

[Alan Gauld]

> Compiling is certainly helpful in my case, and I did
> not realise how simple it was until you explained it. 

Remember that only *imported* modules are compiled. 
Your main program will not be compiled.

You can fix that by having your main program look like this:

####### dummy mainprog.py ########
import realprog
realprog.main()
################################

So the real code lives in realprog whjich will be compiled. 
You can then remove all .py files except mainprog.py.

> I estimate that most of our MCSEs will not know about
> the strings command or attempt to look inside
> something like test.pyc for a password.
> As for users, I'll be amazed if they tried it.   

It depends on their Unix experience.

In the old days of Unix (around 1988-1998 - ie pre Y2K issues...)
using strings was a standard user trick to find out how to use 
a program for which man pages had not been installed 
- the usage instructions were usually to be found using strings.
And since X windows became popular as a Unix GUI strings 
is still a popular way to find out what X resources can be set 
to customise an applications behaviour/appearance 
- the resources are often badly documented....

Speaking personally one of the first things I do after adding a 
new app on Unix is run strings on it! And I know I'm not alone.
So if your users have had access to Unix in the past there is a 
high likeliehood of them knowing about strings. (other commands 
that users use to derive personaisation settings include truss/strace 
to monitor the inter process calls.)

Alan G.