about the GPL version, and password protection...

[J. Landman Gay]

On 2/14/13 12:11 PM, Colin Holgate wrote:
> Some questions came up on the call about why the GPL version can't
> have the password protection code in it. It seems obvious to me why
> that would be the case, but maybe there's a complication I'm not
> seeing?

No, I think you understand it. I seems obvious to me too.

For those who weren't there, the person said that most encryption 
algorithms are open source and wanted to know why this one wouldn't be. 
I thought Kevin did a good job explaining why. In most encryption 
schemes, a missing piece in the form of a password or other bit of data 
has to be provided to unlock the encryption. In LiveCode that isn't the 
case; the engine needs to decrypt the code in order to run it. 
Therefore the key has to be stored within the stack itself. Anyone who 
knew the algorithm could access the code as if it were never protected 
at all.

I'm not sure why that was confusing.

-- 
Jacqueline Landman Gay         |     jacque at hyperactivesw.com
HyperActive Software           |     http://www.hyperactivesw.com