Text files and binary files

Anonymous Monk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

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Re: Text files and binary files by Corion (Patriarch) on Nov 28, 2003 at 08:41 UTC
There are some easy ways of hiding information from prying eyes : Use rot13 transformation for each line of the file (A -> N, B -> O Use `compress` to compress and decompress the file Use MIME to encode the file as a Base64 encoded file Use of any of these mechanisms will need the following approach to using your file: read the file decode the data process the data encode the data rewrite the complete file `perl -MHTTP::Daemon -MHTTP::Response -MLWP::Simple -e ' ; # The $d = new HTTP::Daemon and fork and getprint $d->url and exit;#spider ($c = $d->accept())->get_request(); $c->send_response( new #in the HTTP::Response(200,$_,$_,qq(Just another Perl hacker\n))); ' # web` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Text files and binary files by davido (Cardinal) on Nov 28, 2003 at 08:34 UTC
You can use pack and unpack to transform it into something unintelligible from an "average human" standpoint. With those tools, you could convert it to 0's and 1's if you wanted, or uuencoding, though most likely you would just pack it from text to 'binary' format, and unpack it later. For that matter, you could even ROT-13 it with `tr/A-Za-z/N-ZA-Mn-za-m/;` But that's not the ultimate in security. More like, simple obscurity. Don't put credit card numbers and missile launch codes into the file. Dave "If I had my life to live over again, I'd be a plumber." -- Albert Einstein	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Text files and binary files by Anonymous Monk on Nov 28, 2003 at 08:59 UTC
The problem is that the file can be easily viewed and can be changed by prying eyes. So stop that. Change the permissions on the file and move it out of the document root.	[reply]
Re: Re: Text files and binary files by jdtoronto (Prior) on Nov 28, 2003 at 17:14 UTC
Why on earth do you have a file - ANY FILE - where it can be seen? Move the file out of the document root, or any document area where it can be seen. Change the permissions so that only the script can read and write it. This is one of the cardinal rules of web site building - if there is the most remote possibilitty that someone can see or modify a file they inevitably will, and far sooner than you anticipate. jdtoronto	[reply]


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