On Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 11:58 AM, Sam <lightai...@gmail.com> wrote: > I would like to protect my python source code. It need not be foolproof as > long as it adds inconvenience to pirates. > > Is it possible to protect python source code by compiling it to .pyc or .pyo? > Does .pyo offer better protection? >
The only difference between pyo and pyc is that the former is with optimization done. And neither of them offers any real security. Even if you compiled it down to machine code, you wouldn't do much to deter pirates. All you'd do is make it so they have to take your code as a whole instead of piece-meal. Fighting against piracy using technology is pretty much guaranteed to be a losing battle. How much time and effort can you put in, versus the whole rest of the world? And how much harassment will you permit on your legitimate users in order to slow down a few who want to rip you off? I've seen some programs - usually games - that put lots and lots of checks in (checksumming the program periodically and crashing if it's wrong, "calling home" and making sure the cryptographic hash of the binary matches what's on the server, etc, etc)... and they still get cracked within the first day. And then legitimate purchasers like me have to deal with the stupidities (single-player games calling home??), to the extent that it's actually more convenient to buy the game and then install a cracked version from a torrent, than to install the version you bought. And there's one particular game where I've done exactly that. It's just way too much fiddliness to try to make the legit version work. Distribute your code with a copyright notice, accept that a few people will rip you off, and have done with it. ChrisA -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
