From: John Wells <lists@...>
Date: 2005-08-20T02:06:30+09:00
Subject: Re: Protecting commercial ruby code with public/private key      encryption

Derek Wyatt said:
> If the code is encrypted, how are you going to decrypt it?
>
> I think you have your key types mixed up.  It's the public
> key that can encrypt and the private key that can decrypt.

You're absolutely right...I did flub that in my description, didn't I?  I
suppose the point here is question the viability of packaging a key (the
private key) in the ruby executable to allow decryption of code the
encrypted with the public key.  Public/private is a little confusing in
this scenario, so I'd prefer a locking key and unlocking key.  I would
still keep the public key private and secret, so it's truly not "public".

Now, how easy it would be to retrieve the unlocking key from the ruby
executable, I have no idea.  I've been led to believe by Lothar's comments
that it's possible to conceal it or the actual decryption point well
enough that anyone would have a very difficult or impossible time getting
at it, but that's possibly (probably?) naive.

Thanks,
John