When I immediately responded it was to the query "help me obfuscate my source code so I can sell licenses". I haven't been at this for thirteen years - heck, I'm only twenty-six years old thus far and prior to being a (paid) programmer was all manner of retail clerk (and eventually a phone soliciter for a marketting company). I don't make my living and feed my family (two dogs, three cats and a roommate who is between jobs) by selling licenses and when I deal with obfuscated code on the job there is a distinct problem involved. When I go home and program its with a political bias which again leads me to deprecate closed or obfuscated source programs.

All this really means is that for both you, me and the average person involved in technology there is a social context to our questions. When people post questions that are supportive of spamming operations they tend to be removed or not responded. Similarly, there is a significant problem with closed and obfuscated source software and I'm sure you'll recognize the obvious bias inherent in asking a collection of open source programmers for help with keeping source code secret.

The general thrust here is that I'm willing to sympathize with you especially as I don't have to deal with competitors taking my code and selling it as their own (since I don't have competitors period (all the open source software I write is oriented toward GIS and database operations for political activism and in furtherance of democracy everything is available for free)).

I'll respond to your question later tonight or tomorrow. Just now my roommate wants me to come home so we can eat.

Seeking Green geeks in Minnesota