Hello DVCHAL,

Please see the FAQ “How can I hide the source for my Perl program?” in perlfaq3.

Hope that helps,

This type of question is asked so often I keep a list here.

I dont want others to see the script

Its not about getting Shame about the Code. Just I am concerned that others may take the Credit of my Code.

This is not a programming problem, but a question of getting legal protection. Hence technical "solutions" will always fall short.

The only legal way to get and maintain credit for your code is by making it public (and -depending on the jurisdiction- claiming copyright for it; in some countries the act of publishing is already sufficient). You cannot get a copyright on your code unless it is public. Roughly said, if you hide your code but someone manages to find it and publishes it before you then he has the copyright and you have lost it. So your idea of "protecting" your rights will actually have the opposite effect.

If the code is important enough, you also may want to improve your protection by using an end User Licence Agreement (the (in)famous "EULA"). Speak to a lawyer specializing in these matters. Copyrights, licences, patents, ... are all very complicated legal matters, but there is no way around it. If you want the law to protect you, you have to play according to its rules.

CountZero

A program should be light and agile, its subroutines connected like a string of pearls. The spirit and intent of the program should be retained throughout. There should be neither too little or too much, neither needless loops nor useless variables, neither lack of structure nor overwhelming rigidity." - The Tao of Programming, 4.1 - Geoffrey James

My blog: Imperial Deltronics

So you wrote Perl, the core modules and the cpan modules you used? Aren't you trying to take credit for other peoples code? I wouldn't worry about anyone trying to take credit for whatever it is you have done.

Did you read the part where they said:

"I dont want others to see the script"

You are someone other than this user ;) Are you sure nobody can extract some source from this packager?

lol I was just offering help. I know it can be reversed, as I have seen it here at perlmonks when someone lost their source and it was packaged up with pdk. But it would take someone other than an ordinary user to reverse it ;)

But liek i said, i was just offering a helping hand for the guy :)

Quite frankly, there aren’t that many truly-spectacular ideas or methods to be found in either the source-code or the executable-code of any computer program.   (Despite the proliferation of “software patents.”)   Of far more concern to you should be the potential instability and un-maintainability that such attempts at “protection” may introduce for your paying customers.   This is the outcome that Mister Market will never accept.

If the source-code is proprietary, first license it (engaging the services of an Intellectual Property attorney who knows his stuff).   But thereafter, focus on what the customer needs in order to use your source-code and be delighted with the total experience.   Encryption, and even “minifying,” only gets in the way, while bringing nothing of value to the table.   (And if you have ever been on a diagnostic team that is trying to troubleshoot an issue raised by a customer who is paying for support, given only error-messages produced by minified code, you will know precisely what I am talking about ...)