Firstly, you seem to be confused about the meaning of the term "open source". It doesn't mean "you can see the source code". The term "open source" refers to the licence that the code is released under. An open source licence gives people the (legal) ability to alter and distribute your code. Perl is open source. Any product that you build with Perl doesn't have to be open source. Movable Type is a good example of a successful product which is built with Perl and isn't open source.

Secondly, the whole question of protecting Perl source code is addressed in the FAQ. All methods that obfuscate the code are pretty much doomed to failure. Your best approach is to make the licence terms really clear (or to make your product open source and make money on installations, training and consultancy).

--
<http://dave.org.uk>

"The first rule of Perl club is you do not talk about Perl club."
-- Chip Salzenberg

In reply to Re: How can we do business with Perl by davorg
in thread How can we do business with Perl by shonorio

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