# Protecting source code

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/protecting-source-code/91539>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [April 10, 2007, 7:39am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/protecting-source-code/91539 "2007-04-10T07:39:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![siegi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@siegi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/siegi)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 7:39am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/protecting-source-code/91539/1 "2007-04-10T07:39:36Z")

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hi,

i know in the age of open source software this question might seem old-  
fashioned, but:

how do you deal with source code for commercial ruby on rails  
applications?

how do you protect the source code in subversion repositories on  
remote hosts?

how do you keep the source code protected when deploying a rails app  
on a remote host?

how to protect source code from malicious sys admins? is that possible  
at all?

thanks,  
siegi

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![siegi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@siegi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/siegi)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 8:55am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/protecting-source-code/91539/2 "2007-04-10T08:55:35Z")

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Did you try to search the board for ‘source code’? 😉 This was already  
asked multiple times.

Short answer: Ruby is not made for closed source. If you want to protect  
you property, give more thoughts to the license under which you give the  
code away. Consider stripping documentation. Make sure the contract  
mentions that the code is not to be copied without permission.

Usually, if you are building costumized software like a rails project,  
there ain’t much use in code theft anyways…