Steve Holden wrote: > Before adding complex protection mechanisms to your code you first need > some code worth protecting, which is to say it should have some novel > features or represent a lot of work that offers useful integrated > functionality for a task or a skill area. > > Most inquiries of this nature appear to fall at that first hurdle. > > There are things you can do, but I'm always keenly aware that very few > users of a program have both the skills and the inclination to rip off > the code even when the source is distributed as part of the product. > Personally I've never bothered with obfuscation, and prefer to rely on > copyright when I deliver code to customers.
As you said, if you have some novel features, you will need obfuscation. Copyright doesn't protect the process and patents may take a while. In the meanwhile, good obfuscation is reasonable protection, imho. But I think you failed to note that it may not be a novel feature or useful functionality. In fact, it might be the opposite: a function the users want removed. A typical example would be a shareware registration or nag screen. When the users have to start paying, they might then feel inclied to "rip off the code", or in this case, rip out the code. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
