[CALUG] What would YOU do?

Mon Mar 13 08:43:59 CST 2006

you could write your code in whitespace:
http://compsoc.dur.ac.uk/whitespace/

seriously tho, i vaguely remember some kind of script for perl that
inserts some whitespace and bogus characters to make your code
completely illegible, but i really cant remember what its called.
sorry.
--Jason

On 3/11/06, Rajiv Gunja <opn.src.rocks at gmail.com> wrote:
> All,
> Even though I love Open Source and would love everyone to share their work,
> I will have to go with Jason on this one. Yes open source is all fun and
> gay, but there comes a time, when you are developing a product or a solution
> which might need a little hide and seek.
>
> I do not know how you will be able to use crypt to achieve your goal. There
> is an Open Source solution for this. I had to use it almost a year ago, in
> my office, to encrypt an expect script, so that my users or level 1 admins
> will not be able to get to my passwords on certain machines.
>
> "shc", basically creates a C binary out of your shell script. Yes, I do know
> that is very simple to do the same from our side, but why bother when we
> have a tool for it. (not to mention my C programing skills are a little
> rusty).
>
> Jason, I do not know if this will help, but do look into it.
>
> http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/117920/49/
>
> Just in case, I am including the pdf of that page.
>
> -GGR
>
> ---
> Rajiv G Gunja
> System Analyst / Engg
> SUN / AIX / HPUX / Linux Admin
> IM: AOL / Yahoo / MSN : ggvrsn
>
>
> On 3/10/06, Jason C. Miller <jason.c.miller at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > With all due respect, I can tell that you probably don't operate under
> > the same business models that we (my company and I) do.  In our
> > business, it's about value-added software and often the need to deploy
> > rapidly prototyped applications that are well in the infancy of their
> > life cycles.  Anyone who's ever gone head-to-head with another company
> > to win a contract based solely on your ability to out-innovate your
> > competition (and quickly) would understand that.
> >
> > Allowing access to our software by these competitors with blatantly open
> > scripts is unacceptable, at best.
> >
> > I'm really going to try to avoid going into the ages-old rhetoric of
> > open and closed source software.  This is also hardly a contractual
> > issue.  I would love to see someone tell Microsoft...."Sure....beat
> > everyone to market with your innovations and make sure that you have a
> > great EULA to blanket your yet-to-be-secured source because that will
> > DEFINATELY keep any drooling competitors from being influenced by your
> > problem solving and coding methods".
> >
> > I'm just a grunt engineer.  I hate dealing with money and I hate dealing
> > with managment and contractual issues even more.  I simply wanted to ask
> > some seasoned geeks how they would go about protecting the privacy of
> > their work until their projects became a little more mature and secure.
> > I most certainly am not advocating closed source software or even the
> > proprietarization (is that a real word??) of any open source software.
> >
> > I mean, things like iptables/ipchains is open source, yet there are
> > probably plenty of people out there that wouldn't share their firewall
> > rules with ANYBODY because maybe they have a particular way of doing
> > things that they think brings value to them.  Same concept!  There's
> > also openssh.  You can use that to secure everything but the kitchen
> > sink.  Just because you're securing your stuff doesn't mean you're
> > wanting to close-source everything.
> >
> > My question is a technical one...pure and simple.  I've got some stuff
> > that I want to keep prying eyes away from.
> > When I want good insight from some good professionals on how to get
> > things done, I typically come here first (well...after Google).  I
> > seriously doubt that telling a lawyer "They stole lines from my
> > script!!" is the solution to my problem.
> >
> > Anyway...for anyone out there who's interested.  I'm currently looking
> > at the Solaris 'crypt' utility.   Hopefully that'll bring me down some
> > good roads.  :)
> >
> >
> >
> > -j
> >
> > James Ewing Cottrell 3rd wrote:
> >
> > > Don't confuse Ownership with Visibility. You can still write contracts
> > > and restrict usage and distribution even tho the source code is
> > > available. Your attempt to hide it only does the following: [1] delays
> > > your development time while you work out a solution [2] further delays
> > > your development while you debug the mess. [3] delays the finish
> > > product  while the finished product runs [4] pisses off your customers
> > > and everyone who hears about it because you are assuming that they
> > > will steal it if you don't hide it.
> > >
> > > Given that Linux is Open Source Software, you won't get much support
> > > here for what you are trying to do here.
> > >
> > > We understand that you wish to make money, retain ownership and
> > > rights. There is still a way to do that without closing your source.
> > > Take the High Road and Find the Middle Ground.
> > >
> > > JIM
> > >
> > > Jason C. Miller wrote:
> > >
> > >> I would like to get some advice from all the smart folks out there.
> > >>
> > >> I was tasked to create a non-trivial application in an unbelievably
> > >> unreasonable amount of time.  So, I basically just made a nice
> > >> front-end with a bunch of buttons (using Glade) and simply made
> > >> system() calls to external bash scripts for each button.  Not my
> > >> favorite way of doing business, but, gotta do what ya gotta do.
> > >> Anyhoo, I will be making incremental releases of this software and
> > >> will be filling in the gaps as I go along.  One problem is that it is
> > >> going to be a while before I have the time to implement all of the
> > >> button functions in C/C++.
> > >> My question to everyone is this...
> > >> For the sake of trying to keep code proprietary in the interim , does
> > >> anybody have any ideas as to how one could maintain the scripts in a
> > >> way that would make it difficult for someone else to understand the
> > >> logic that executes within them?
> > >> As an example, I considered writing the scripts in PERL and using
> > >> perlcc to compile the scripts into system binaries.  This would allow
> > >> me to maintain the scripts for development but deploy them as
> > >> binaries for delivery. However, in the past, I haven't been very
> > >> pleased with the perl compiler and would be happy to avoid it.
> > >>
> > >> I don't have a very extensive history in subversive development
> > >> practices, so I was hoping that someone out there might have some
> > >> ideas.  :)
> > >>
> > >>                                       -jason
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > ***************************************************
> > My blog: http://millersplace.blogspot.com/
> > ***************************************************
> >
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