As lemming pointed out, that was caused by my confusing PerlEx and PerlApp. Once I saw that, I started looking at things a bit closer. PerlEx claims to offer the source code protection. However, all PerlEx does is keep a version of Perl memory-resident and compile the first execution of a Perl/CGI script and save that in memory (see this link for details). The source code is still readily available. Why the heck do they claim source code protection when there is absolutely no attempt to protect the source code?

Now regarding PerlApp, there's no apparent claim that source code is protected. However, since you wish to play Devil's Advocate, why, exactly, would one wish to XOR the source code with a string? This merely adds an unnecessary level of complexity. In fact, the only reason that I could come up with is a naive attempt to hide the source code, which brings us back to tachyon's original post. If you have other theories, I'd love to here them.

Cheers,
Ovid

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In reply to (Ovid - Security is *still* the issue) Re(4) by Ovid
in thread Security, is it to much to ask? by tachyon

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