From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.3 (2006-06-01) on yquem.inria.fr X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.0 required=5.0 tests=AWL autolearn=disabled version=3.1.3 Received: from mail3-relais-sop.national.inria.fr (mail3-relais-sop.national.inria.fr [192.134.164.104]) by yquem.inria.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id DD974BC6B for ; Tue, 8 Jan 2008 17:03:52 +0100 (CET) X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: AgAAAIMtg0fAXQImh2dsb2JhbACQGgEBAQgKKZhg X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.24,258,1196636400"; d="scan'208";a="7575230" Received: from discorde.inria.fr ([192.93.2.38]) by mail3-smtp-sop.national.inria.fr with ESMTP; 08 Jan 2008 17:03:52 +0100 Received: from mail2-relais-roc.national.inria.fr (mail2-relais-roc.national.inria.fr [192.134.164.83]) by discorde.inria.fr (8.13.6/8.13.6) with ESMTP id m08G3q37003883 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=RC4-SHA bits=128 verify=OK) for ; Tue, 8 Jan 2008 17:03:52 +0100 X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: Ao8CAIMtg0dQRFuw/2dsb2JhbACpOA X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.24,258,1196636400"; d="scan'208";a="5842016" Received: from furbychan.cocan.org ([80.68.91.176]) by mail2-smtp-roc.national.inria.fr with ESMTP; 08 Jan 2008 17:03:52 +0100 Received: from rich by furbychan.cocan.org with local (Exim 4.63) (envelope-from ) id 1JCGvf-00028K-Py for caml-list@inria.fr; Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:03:51 +0000 Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 16:03:51 +0000 To: caml-list@inria.fr Subject: Re: [Caml-list] Shared run-time DLLs for commerce Message-ID: <20080108160351.GB4410@annexia.org> References: <200801071130.29025.jon@ffconsultancy.com> <200801071503.26977.jon@ffconsultancy.com> <47824B45.1000507@frisch.fr> <200801071951.25170.jon@ffconsultancy.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200801071951.25170.jon@ffconsultancy.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.13 (2006-08-11) From: Richard Jones X-Miltered: at discorde with ID 47839EE8.000 by Joe's j-chkmail (http://j-chkmail . ensmp . fr)! X-Spam: no; 0.00; run-time:01 frisch:01 bytecode:01 camlp:01 ocaml:01 afaik:01 compilation:01 ocaml:01 beginners:01 beginners:01 wrote:01 wrote:01 caml-list:01 digest:01 digest:01 On Mon, Jan 07, 2008 at 07:51:23PM +0000, Jon Harrop wrote: > On Monday 07 January 2008 15:54:45 Alain Frisch wrote: > > 1. Distribute the source code, even without an open source license. I > > cannot imagine this would reduce your sales, but you know better. > > Yes. The concern here is not loss of sales but loss of competitive edge. With > direct access to a comprehensible implementation of the complex algorithms > inside the software, people will nick the algorithms even if they don't nick > the source code. After 9 years of work, I'd rather not see that happen... :-) Really? Do you think that the generated bytecode is obscure enough to protect this 'valuable' knowledge too? If I was that concerned about my cherished algorithms, I wouldn't let them go beyond a web service. > > 3. Obfuscate the parts of the source code you want to keep secret. > > Camlp4 might help here. > > This is a possibility but there is little scope for obfuscation within OCaml, > AFAIK. I really want to distribute after pattern match compilation, for > example. Check out this recent discussion on ocaml_beginners: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners/message/9163 > I'd be very happy if the brittle digest comparison were replaced with a > structural API comparison instead. That would save me a lot of time and > effort. This is certainly true. The single, brittle digest is a real problem for Red Hat. It should be at least possible to add additional values and types without that causing incompatibility. Rich. -- Richard Jones Red Hat