obviscating python code for distribution

[Chris Angelico]

Actually, Chris, those applications are probably no less valuable to
be open source than Linux or Firefox. The reason is that when one goes
to learn a new language it is valuable to look at existing real world
code. However, the code available online generally falls into one of
two categories:
1) Simple sample code, which demonstrates a principle or technique
2) Full-blown FOSS application with hundreds of source files and a build

It sounds to me like your home-brew code might be one of the missing
links between the two. It won't be so tiny as to be trivial, but it
won't be so huge as to be beyond the grasp of novices.

You have a point there. Although I can't guarantee that all my code is
particularly *good*, certainly not what I'd want to hold up for a
novice to learn from - partly because it dates back anywhere up to two
decades, and partly because quite a few of the things I was working
with are completely undocumented!

But if you have Pastel Accounting Version 5, running in a Windows 3.1
virtual session, and you want to export some of its data to a DB2
database, I can help you quite a bit. Assuming you have an OS/2 system
to run it on, of course. (You see what I mean about obscure?) I should
probably dust off some of the slightly-more-useful pieces and put them
up on either The Esstu Pack (my old web site) or rosuav.com (my new
web site, doesn't have any better name than that), but that kinda
requires time, a resource that I don't have an awful lot of. I'm sure
there'll be a few oddments in there where at least one half of the
glue is more useful. Back then, though, I didn't know Python, nor
Pike, nor any of quite a few other awesome languages, but REXX and C++
are at least available open source.

Chris Angelico

 

[D'Arcy J.M. Cain]

You have a point there. Although I can't guarantee that all my code is
particularly *good*, certainly not what I'd want to hold up for a
novice to learn from - partly because it dates back anywhere up to two
decades, and partly because quite a few of the things I was working
with are completely undocumented!

Sounds like a perfect reason to open source it. If what you say is
true it could benefit you more than others, at least at the beginning.
Remember, open source is a two way street.

 

[Disc Magnet]

I'm putting lots of work into this. I would rather not have some script
kiddy dig through it, yank out chunks and do whatever he wants. I just want
to distribute the program as-is, not distribute it and leave it open to
being hacked.

Obfuscating the code won't help here. Remember, "the enemy knows the system."