C++Talk.NET C++ language newsgroups   Archives   FAQ   Search   Memberlist   Usergroups   Register   Profile   Log in to check your private messages   Log in  How protect source code in template library?          C++Talk.NET Forum Index -> C++ language (comp.lang.c++) View previous topic :: View next topic   Author Message Lokicer Guest Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 5:25 am    Post subject: How protect source code in template library? Hi! I am a newbie in C++, it seems compiler must see the source code of template classes(with .h files and .cpp files£©when compile. I want to prevent others from getting .cpp files. How should i do? Thanks! Back to top Jack Klein Guest Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 6:39 am    Post subject: Re: How protect source code in template library? On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 13:25:39 +0800, "Lokicer" <lokicer (AT) 163 (DOT) com> wrote in comp.lang.c++: Quote: Hi! I am a newbie in C++, it seems compiler must see the source code of template classes(with .h files and .cpp files£©when compile. I want to prevent others from getting .cpp files. How should i do? Thanks! Then don't distribute your code with template classes. Provide binaries of pre-compiled classes only with header files. Be prepared to produce many different versions for different operating systems, compilers, and even versions of the same compiler. Or select another language. C++ is not particularly designed for this. -- Jack Klein Home: http://JK-Technology.Com FAQs for comp.lang.c http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html comp.lang.c++ http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/ alt.comp.lang.learn.c-c++ http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~ajo/docs/FAQ-acllc.html Back to top Ivan Vecerina Guest Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 8:13 am    Post subject: Re: How protect source code in template library? "Lokicer" <lokicer (AT) 163 (DOT) com> wrote Quote: I am a newbie in C++, it seems compiler must see the source code of template classes(with .h files and .cpp files£©when compile. I want to prevent others from getting .cpp files. How should i do? To instantiate template code for new (user-provided) data types, the compiler does need to see the template source code (which is commonly left into .h files). You can't get around that, but your template code could be a thin layer around non-template code (stored in .cpp files) that you distribute into a compiled library. It is common enough for proprietary C++ libraries to be distributed as, e.g. on Windows, .h files and a .lib+.dll compiled library (NB: this is OT here, ask on a platform- specific newsgroup). When you do that, you need to be aware potential incompatibilities among C++ compilers on some platforms (while the way to call C-style functions is pretty much standardized everywhere, on some operating systems/processors classes/overloaded functions/etc can be implemented in incompatible ways -- different "ABI"s). This is probably what Jack Klein was thinking about. Besides that, C++ is actually among the languages that are the more difficult to reverse-engineer from compiled code. Ivan -- http://ivan.vecerina.com/contact/?subject=NG_POST <- email contact form Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First         C++Talk.NET Forum Index -> C++ language (comp.lang.c++) All times are GMT Page 1 of 1   Jump to: Select a forum C/C++----------------C LanguageC Language (Moderated)C++ Language (Moderated)C++ language (comp.lang.c++)C++ language, library and standards Non-English C/C++ Newsgroups----------------C++ (German)C++ (French)  You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2006 phpBB Group SEO toolkit © 2004-2006 webmedic.