Perl Obfuscator

[Ismail, Rafiq (IT)]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: london.pm-bounces at london.pm.org 
> [mailto:london.pm-bounces at london.pm.org] On Behalf Of Charles 
> Collicutt
> Sent: 19 September 2007 15:29
> To: London.pm Perl M[ou]ngers
> Subject: Re: Perl Obfuscator
> 
> "Matt Wilson" <codebrewery at gmail.com> wrote on 19/09/2007 15:01:19:
> > It's surprisingly easy to decompile Java into the source 
> code that was 
> > compiled, only with the variable names missing IIRC.
> 
> I've always found Jad quite useful for that. As you say, you 
> get everything back with the exception of variable names.
> 
> http://www.kpdus.com/jad.html

I've used a couple of decompilers in the past; this was particularly
useful when I had to implement a particular interface which wasn't
properly documented by the vendor.  That said, I was quiet relieved when
it decompiled into readable source.  There are however a number of
'actual' obfuscators in java space, which can yield less transparent
source files.  Not sure how these work, but I can imagine optimised
trees being factored into more convoluted patterns.. Which makes one
wonder how obfuscation can screw with the intended performance of your
implementation.. Might be why most vendors don't obfuscate.
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