That is why you can distribute only the .pyc files and not the .py files. This would be like distributing the .class files and not giving out the .java files.
I had this issue at a company in the late 1980's and why I submitted the patches to make Python not require the .py files if the .pyc files existed. Now days, you can go one step further and zip up the .pyc files into a single zip file and distribute that instead of individual .pyc files. If you really want to go further, you can also modify the module loading code and encrypt the .pyc files when they are generated from the .py files. Your module loading code can then decrypt the .pyc files at load time. Lance Ellinghaus I speak for myself and not for the company I work for. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Maurice LING Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 8:20 AM To: python-list@python.org Subject: Re: Is Python suitable for a huge, enterprise size app? > >> You can >>see Python going down the sewer pipes, right on their faces. Two, >>security. "This python sounds pretty interesting. Tell me about the >>security. How can we prevent people from stealing our source code, >>which we just spent millions developing? ... Hmm, trust the >>developers out there not to peek? Oh, sure, let's use it." > > > Just like Java, which is so easy to reverse-engineer... > > It makes big difference (legally) to if the codes are there and someone sees it, to if the codes are locked in some packaged or zipped form and someone reverse-engineer it. It is legally as different as if you drop money on the ground and I pick it up, to pick-pocketing you and take the money. Nobody seems to be able to understand this simple logic. Yes, Java class files can be reverse-engineered quite easily but the act of doing that is criminal, unless performed under specified Council Directives (in EU) or under any statutory law in specific countries. But the act of looking at the codes if it is there is not criminal, just like reading a book in bookstore. If anyone can program in binary today, no codes will be safe with them anyway... maurice -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
