Question

I need to write a GUI related javascript library. It will give my website a bit of an edge (in terms of functionality I can offer) – up until my competitors play with it long enough to figure out how to write it by themselves (or finally hack the downloaded script). I can accept the fact that it will be emulated over time – thats par for the course (its part of business). I just want to have a few months breathing space where people go “Wow – how the f*** did they do that?” – which gives me a few months of free publicity and some momentum to move onto other things.

To be clear, I am not even concerned about hard core hackers who will still hack the source – thats a losing battle not worth fighting (and in any case I accept that my code is not “so precious”). However, what I cannot bear, is the idea of effectively, simply handing over all the hard work that would have gone into the library to my competitors, by using plain javascript that anyone can download and use. If someone is going to use what I have worked on, then I sure as hell don’t want to simply hand it over to them – I want them to work hard at decoding it. If they can decode it, they deserve to have the code (they’ll most likely find out they could have written better code themselves – they just didn’t have the business sense to put all the [plain vanilla] components in that particular order) – So, I’m not claiming that no one could have written this (which would be a preposterous claim in any case) – but rather, what I am saying is that no one (up to now) has made the functionality I am talking about, available to this particular industry – and I (thinking as an entrepreneur rather than a geek/coder), want to milk it for all its worth, while it lasts i.e until it (inevitably) gets hacked.

It is an established fact that not one website in the industry I am “attacking” has this functionality, so the value of such a library is undeniable and is not up for discussion (i.e. thats not what I’m asking here).

What I am seeking to find out are the pros and cons of obfuscating a javascript library, so that I can come to a final decision.

Two of my biggest concerns are debugging, and subtle errors that may be introduced by the obfuscator.

I would like to know:

1. How can I manage those risks (being able to debug faulty code, ensuring/minimizing against obfuscation errors)

2. Are there any good quality industry standard obfuscators you can recommend (preferably something you use yourself).

3. What are your experiences of using obfuscated code in a production environment?

Answer 1

If they can decode it, they deserve to have the code (they’ll most likely find out they could have written better code themselves – they just didn’t have the business sense to put all the [plain vanilla] components in that particular order).

So really, you’re trying to solve a business issue with technical measures.

Anybody worth his salt as a Javascript programmer should be able to recreate whatever you do pretty easily by just looking at the product itself, no code needed. It’s not like you’re inventing some new magical thing never seen before, you’re just putting pieces together in a new way, as you admit yourself. It’s just Javascript.

Even if you obfuscate the script, it’ll still run as-is, competitors could just take it and run with it. A few customizations shouldn’t be too hard even with obfuscated code.

In your niche business, you’ll probably notice pretty quickly if somebody “stole” your script. If that happens, it’s a legal issue. If your competitors want to be in the clear legally, they’ll have to rewrite the script from scratch anyway, which will automatically buy you some time.

If your competitors are not technically able to copy your product without outright stealing the code, it won’t make a difference whether the code is in the clear or obfuscated.