encoding python scripts

[Richie Hindle]

Hi Rick,

> I was wondering what approaches python developers
> have taken to encode and thus protect their commercial applications?

I believe Freeze is good enough.  It compiles your Python to bytecode,
creates a C module which defines the bytecode as a big char array,
then links that C module with the Python interpreter.  It's possible
to hack the bytecode out again and Decompyle it, but it's not trivial.
 A real hacker will always be able to get to your code, but using
freeze prevents a curious user armed with WinZip and Decompyle from
reading it.

All that said, licence agreements are the real answer, regardless of
the programming language you use.

> Does such an avaricious mentality even exist in the Python community?

Not in public.  8-)

-- 
Richie Hindle
richie at entrian.com