Protecting Python

[Anysja]

How do you all go about protecting your python programs? If I were to send an executable to someone, how do you prevent them from redistributing it to someone else?

[Larz60+]

I keep it all free, then I don't care.

[Anysja]

That would be great, but I don't think my boss will go for that.

[DeaD_EyE]

I'm building radar systems.... if you order one, you'll get also the source code.
But the hardware is still expensive.
I don't care about this, but my boss was a bit unlucky about this situation.
In my case it's a bit special. There are not many people who have full knowledge about
the complete system.

So protecting code is something what you have to do sometimes.
If your boss tells you to protect the code, you've to do this.

First possibility is to use an obfuscators:

• https://liftoff.github.io/pyminifier/
  
• Source
  This trick is not really hard to reverse for someone:
  

  import zlib, base64
  def run(code):
      exec(zlib.decompress(base64.b16decode(code)))
  def enc(code):
      return base64.b16encode(zlib.compress(code))

• https://github.com/QQuick/Opy
  
• Google
  

Next step is "compiling" your code:

• PyInstaller can pack everything together in one .exe file or in a directory many exe file(s) and the needed libraries.
  
• Nuitka is a compiler. If I got it right, it translates to C and then it optimizes and compile everything.
  

[Anysja]

Thank you so much. I will take a look into that!

[micseydel]

I strongly recommend SaaS (Software as a Service) if you're concerned about protecting your code. Obfuscation only goes so far - if clients have access to your code, then if they want to figure it out bad enough then they will (if the CPU can figure your code out, so can a dedicated coder).

The Pokemon Go APK (Android binary) gets decompiled and analyzed after every release. The network traffic is analyzed. There's only so much anyone can do, including big corporations.

[Anysja]

That's a smart idea, thank you.