Hide source, compiling, whatever!

[Mike]

Hey, I have several programs that I would like to install on a
client's website. However, this client has been known to be very good
friends with a local competing designer (who happens to be a terrible
programmer), and in my opinion is very likely to give his friend
access to the server and download my programs, regardless of
copyright. One of these programs I've spent years perfecting, and I
would be pretty upset if it was swiped by this guy.

So, I've been researching ways of keeping this from happening. Some of
the programs will call certain modules, some of which come with Perl
and others are installed manually. I program on a Windows 98 machine
(and test with ActivePerl 5.8.0 and Apache 1.3.27), but upload to a
Linux Redhat 6.2 server running Apache 1.3.26.

At this point, I am looking for any option possible. I tried Perl2Exe,
but can't get even the simplest script to work in the browser (they'll
work at the Dos command prompt, but not when I try to open them from
the browser). I've also tried PerlCC that came with ActivePerl, but
get nothing but errors when trying to compile (and it never completes
the compilation).

Are there any modules that I can install to permanently encrypt the
source code? Any other suggestions? This would likely be a one-time
occurrence, so I'm hesitant to buy a program unless I have to, but at
this point I'm open to any suggestions.

TIA,

Mike

 

[Janek Schleicher]

Mike wrote at Wed, 25 Jun 2003 21:19:36 -0700:

Hey, I have several programs that I would like to install on a
client's website. However, this client has been known to be very good
friends with a local competing designer (who happens to be a terrible
programmer), and in my opinion is very likely to give his friend
access to the server and download my programs, regardless of
copyright. One of these programs I've spent years perfecting, and I
would be pretty upset if it was swiped by this guy.

[...]

Are there any modules that I can install to permanently encrypt the
source code? Any other suggestions? This would likely be a one-time
occurrence, so I'm hesitant to buy a program unless I have to, but at
this point I'm open to any suggestions.

Have you already read
perldoc -q hide


Greetings,
Janek

 

[Helgi Briem]

Hey, I have several programs that I would like to install on a
client's website. However, this client has been known to be very good
friends with a local competing designer (who happens to be a terrible
programmer), and in my opinion is very likely to give his friend
access to the server and download my programs, regardless of
copyright. One of these programs I've spent years perfecting, and I
would be pretty upset if it was swiped by this guy.

This is a FAQ. Read all about it in:

perldoc -q hide

Short answer, can't be done.

At this point, I am looking for any option possible. I tried Perl2Exe,
but can't get even the simplest script to work in the browser (they'll
work at the Dos command prompt, but not when I try to open them from
the browser).

What on earth does a browser have to do with Perl?
Are you trying to make a CGI program? Your web
server is probably configured to allow CGI programs
with the .pl or .cgi extensions, but not .exe, but
that´s a web server configuration issue, not a Perl issue.

Perl2exe works extremely well, in my experience, but
it's not free and the code is not well hidden.

The PAR module (available from CPAN) does the
same thing and is free.

PerlApp from Activestate is similar, but not free.

I've also tried PerlCC that came with ActivePerl, but
get nothing but errors when trying to compile (and it never completes
the compilation).

Never has and probably never will.

Are there any modules that I can install to permanently encrypt the
source code?

No. I don't think so. Licence it properly.

Any other suggestions? This would likely be a one-time
occurrence, so I'm hesitant to buy a program unless I have to, but at
this point I'm open to any suggestions.

I doubt very much that your programs are so super
duper that it will be worth his while to steal them.

There are a lot of *superb* Perl programs available
for free out there at www.stonehenge.com, www.perlmonks.org
and nms-cgi.sourceforge.net for example.

 

[Mike]

This is a FAQ. Read all about it in:

perldoc -q hide

Short answer, can't be done.

Thanks to all of you for the advice. I didn't realize it was that
commonly asked, I guess it was a matter of searching for the wrong
terms. Everything I found was from 1999 and 2000, and I was hoping
that something more recent was available.

I apologize again for the "troll-like" question, I certainly didn't
mean for it to be.

The PAR module (available from CPAN) does the
same thing and is free.

I really think that this will work, I appreciate the tip! It won't be
perfect, but probably close enough.

I doubt very much that your programs are so super
duper that it will be worth his while to steal them.

LOL you might be surprised! I've had it happen no less than 3 other
times (by this guy and another).

Thanks for the PAR tip,

Mike

 

[Simon Andrews]

I really think that this will work, I appreciate the tip! It won't be
perfect, but probably close enough.

The PAR module won't help you at all. PAR is a packaging mechanism
which bundles your Perl code (+modules and optionally a Perl
interpreter) into a single file, which is easy to distribute. When the
file is run it decompresses the code and runs it. The code is right
there in a temp file for all the world to see. (I seem to remember that
if you even open the .exe in a text editor, the code is there in plain
text).

Also, you don't want to use a PAR exe as a CGI script as there would be
a large overhead on every execution whilst the code was decompressed.

If this is just a CGI script then why not host it yourself somewhere and
let your customer point their forms at it? That way you retain full
control over your code.

HTH

Simon.