Ask HN: How do I sell a library/plug-in?

1 points by busymichael 5y ago ↗ HN

I have built a python library for advanced timezone handling; essentially running cron jobs for users based on their local tz.

I would like to sell the library. It could be a saas but it would really run so much better as a local library/include.

How do I sell a library/plug-in and prevent my code from showing up for free? Has anyone used a commercial licensing solution? Does anything work, or do I need to model in a certain amount of theft?

3 comments

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botpenguin 5y ago ↗

You can ad plugin to wordpress e.g. https://wordpress.org/plugins/botpenguinbot/ and can promote on business listing sites

jdbowman 5y ago ↗

You would need some kind of code obfuscation (and then you could sell the license key to unlock the code). Could use something like https://github.com/dashingsoft/pyarmor perhaps.

But, instead of this unwieldy approach, would you consider monetizing with product support, training, etc.?

busymichael 5y ago ↗

Thank you -- pyarmor is what I am looking for. It seems to provide for both code obfuscation AND licensing. Also, if you use the licensing, the code obfuscation is linked to the license, so you can easily track back code leaks.