Posted by worthwhileindustries on December 20, 2011 at 6:48am
Is it legal to obfuscate or ioncube encrypt the files and sell them? The code can technically be modified in either case. It's not compiled. I have a feeling I know the answer to this but, thought I'd make sure and cross it off the list.
Comments
Nope
Deliberately obfuscating code is not allowed by the GPL. Or rather, the GPL requires that you make the non-obfuscated version available anyway so obfuscating it serves no useful purpose.
code encryption
If there is some requirement to keep some of code encrypted, is it legal ? or any action can be taken on this ?
No
The GPL is very clear on this. Anyone you give a copy of the code to is legally entitled to the "version preferred for editing"; that is, if you give them an encyrpted version of the code, you are REQUIRED to also give them the unencrypted version (meaning that bothering with the encrypted version is worthless).
If your company has some legal requirement that you have to encrypt the code, then you can't use ANY GPL code. The action to take is "obey the GPL."
well we all have to make
well we all have to make money to stay in business so, what is a typical business model for Drupal? Unless I have a product to sell or a website that produces money via subscriptions etc... there is no way to earn a living as a developer. DotNetNuke is starting to make more sense as a financial decision over which one I actually prefer. Oh well, I'll keep trying to figure out a way. Other than teach others how to use it or getting paid once to make it.... Unless I can come up with a reasonable way to make money, I don't know if it's worth investing more time into Drupal development, as awesome as it is.
Anyone have anything they'd like to add on how they make a living with Drupal?
Don't sell code, sell solutions
I wrote a blog post a couple years back talking about Palantir's transition from a company that simply worked with open source tools to a company that contributes back to an open source community with virtually every project that we work on.
The bottom line is that people don't want to buy code, they want to buy solutions to their business problems. If you have a business that's devoted to helping people solve their problems, you will have no problem making a living. What you as a developer bring to the table is not a library of code (obfuscated or otherwise), but your experience and expertise.
Working with Drupal and coding in the open will not only make you a better developer, but it will also help you better leverage the experience and expertise of an entire community to better serve your customers.
Services
Most of us sell consulting services.
While we try very hard to code ourselves out of a job, we'll never succeed because there's always demand for the next new thing.
Check out the Business track of last year's Drupalcon to see what other companies are doing:
http://chicago2011.drupal.org/sessions/confirmed?field_track_value_many_...
Most sessions have video recordings available.
http://groups.drupal.org/jobs
http://groups.drupal.org/jobs
--
http://ken.therickards.com/
Generally people make money
Generally people make money writing custom modules for clients, freelancing and building/theming/coding sites for clients, or working for a Drupal "shop" that builds websites for clients. All are in high demand. I don't want or ever intend to make money just writing modules because the Drupal community is a family to me - we use and build off work that each other has done.
Senior Drupal Developer for Lullabot | www.davereid.net | @davereid
Listen to Robert Douglass' app store ideas
There are a number of people here who can write a mean lil' module that does everything, brews coffee and arranges world peace while the CPU waits for the data... however, letting people find your module and providing support to them is diamond hard. You can happily make money out of just that while open sourcing your code and enjoying the benefits of it. Those who would pay for your module can do very very little with the raw module, anyways. (Don't fall into the trap of "every download is a lost sale". That's absolutely untrue.)
Well thanks for all your
Well thanks for all your feedback. I'll keep turning stones.
Better Question?
Better question is, how can you obfuscate a Drupal theme, or a custom module, without taking a toll on performance. It is stupid to obfuscate community code.
"If you have to do a sequence of actions more than twice, they are in the wrong abstraction layer :D" - Learned from drupal
And to answer the original
And to answer the original post, you make money by selling subscription driven solutions, not by selling code.
"If you have to do a sequence of actions more than twice, they are in the wrong abstraction layer :D" - Learned from drupal