pymixup

Pymixup

pymixup is a Python code obfuscator. It takes code that looks like this::

def mk_formatted_array_string(number_array, decimal='.', separator=',', is_sort_array=False, is_strip_unused_decimals=False, joiner=' '): """Format an array of numbers into a string of formatted numbers.

   Parameters
   ----------
   decimal
   is_sort_array
   is_strip_unused_decimals
   joiner
   number_array
   separator
   """
   try:
       if is_sort_array:
           number_array_ = np.sort(number_array)
       else:
           number_array_ = number_array
       formatted_string = joiner.join([
           mk_formatted_number(
               number, is_strip_unused_decimals=is_strip_unused_decimals)
           for number in number_array_
       ])
   except ValueError:
       raise
   if decimal != '.' or separator != ',':
       formatted_string = formatted_string.replace(',', '~'). \
           replace('.', decimal).replace('~', separator)
   return formatted_string

and turns it into this::

def raiug(enihb,xskrm='.',oqkio=',',fmzcc=False,jkego=False,aidon=' '): try: if fmzcc: voxaq=np.sort(enihb) else: voxaq=enihb zexay=aidon.join([gkmiw(number,jkego=jkego)for number in voxaq]) except ValueError: raise if xskrm!='.'or oqkio!=',': zexay=zexay.replace(',','').replace('.',xskrm).replace('',oqkio) return zexay

Why Obfuscate?

Python is a great interpreted language. Its syntax makes the source code easy to read and understand. The deployed code--even in compiled .pyc byte form--is also easy to read.

For most programs, there is no reason to deliberately make programs hard to read, but there are exceptions. For example, if you are charging for an app that is installed on a mobile phone, then you do not want competitors to copy your code and resell your app at a lower cost.

In this case, it's sensible to make the program as hard as possible for someone else to copy and edit. That's the work of obfuscation.

Because of its interpreted nature, there are limits to how much a Python program can be obfuscated, since the program must still be understood by the interpreter. For example, Python reserved names like "if" and "class" cannot be changed, or Python won't be able to understand them. However, variables and method names you create can be changed--as long as the changes are duplicated throughout the source files.

That's what pymixup does. It obfuscates non-reserved names into garbled names of random text to make the program harder to understand and follow.

CAVEAT: The obfuscated code can be reverse engineered by deciphering what an obfuscated variable or method does and renaming the garbled term to a meaningful one. That's a potentially labor-intensive process that hopefully discourages those who want to steal your code from attempting it.

What pymixup Does

pymixup will read all the python files in a project and obfuscate the file contents, the file names, and the folder names based on rules you specify in the setup lists.

In addition, for the cross-platform program Kivy, pymixup will also obfuscate the corresponding .kv files.

Other files may be added in the future; for example, django .html templates.

Installation

How to install pymixup is explained here <docs/install.rst>_.

Setup

How to setup a project is explained here <docs/setup.rst>_.

Documentation

Visit the documentation <http://pymixup.readthedocs.org>_ for more information.