Lindsey_ Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Something I would like to see for IPB 3.0 I know communityseo has this. When you install communityseo it asks for a key. and the whole install folder is encoded which means people cant install IPB 3.0 without a key and the max installs you can do with that key is lets say 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 I would hope the max installs would be one... It does have it's problems. For a start - you'd probably just pirates distribute it with a .sql file that the installer creates thus bypassing the installer entirely. You'd need to encrypt certain core files, which again, has it's problems. I've suggested before that IPS *could* implement a license key system and encode the ips_kernel directory (a, because it's not really something that needs to be edited nor, if properly documented, even looked at. b, it's used in all IPS products) which would contain the license checker - but some might object to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atomicknight Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Encoding things like that just goes back to the whole problem behind software activation. People who want to pirate it will still be able to (and quite easily at that), but people who buy the software legitimately get the short end of the stick. Even "nicer" activation schemes always run into issues, which I personally think cancels out the benefits earned by implementing them to begin with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Encoding things like that just goes back to the whole problem behind software activation. People who want to pirate it will still be able to (and quite easily at that), but people who buy the software legitimately get the short end of the stick. Even "nicer" activation schemes always run into issues, which I personally think cancels out the benefits earned by implementing them to begin with. True, there will always be issues - but I disagree with you that pirates will still be able to pirate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Energizer Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 You simply do not want to understand that there is no possibility of preventing people that they can use the IPB illegally. If they encode the IPB, then this is a disadvantage for honest customers. This will not accept who has honestly bought a licence! This is also the reason why all other developers like VBulletin do not encode. An encoding is the end of every forum software! I understand that it is very annoying for IPS. However, you will be able to solve the problem never so that customers have no disadvantages or restrictions through this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I think the only chance to keep the source code protected would be IonCube, but i don't think that this thing will ever happened. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atomicknight Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 True, there will always be issues - but I disagree with you that pirates will still be able to pirate it.If you distribute software in the form of source code, any checking mechanism can easily be disabled. Even if you don't distribute the source code, people have still been able to disable anti-piracy measures. Using irreversible encoding like Ioncube would work, but that would also completely destroy one's ability to make modifications to the source code itself. Even if IPS doesn't officially support modifications, preventing them would likely be a bad business decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Soo.. the best thing is to leave it without any protection. However, i had a quick search today on some known nulled scripts forums( o:) ), IP.Board it's not anymore in the center of attention since DGT group is not public anymore (here i mean their old Grinderz forum), now only some poor retarded kids pretend that they null it. Now the most nulled bulletin board software is vBulletin (GYSN). The guys from WoldLab Burning Board are very kind, they even don't bother to add some basic protection in their WBB 3... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsey_ Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Hello, Well when IPB 3.0 comes around it will be nulled big time Even if they dont encode the install files but add a auto email ips section so when someone installs ip without a key the email will be sent with the board url Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 If you distribute software in the form of source code, any checking mechanism can easily be disabled. Even if you don't distribute the source code, people have still been able to disable anti-piracy measures. Using irreversible encoding like Ioncube would work, but that would also completely destroy one's ability to make modifications to the source code itself. Even if IPS doesn't officially support modifications, preventing them would likely be a bad business decision. If something is encoded, then you cannot remove anti-piracy measures in it, because you can't edit it... I am of course talking about ioncube or similar, not base64 or similar. One would not have to encode every file (which would be problematic for mods) but just files which do not need to be editted. On a software that I have some involvement in, we encode what is the equivalant of the ips_kernel folder and sources/ipsclass.php - and have developers docs on the functions within them (obviously missing out the anti-piracy and copyright generating ones). People can't remove the (unencoded) call to these files because then nothing else would work as it's where all the key functions (like connecting to the database, loading the settings, loading the language files) are defined, but isn't a problem because these functions don't need to be changed (I've only ever seen 1 mod which required an edit to ipsclass.php and it could have been done in another file, and never seen a mod which required an edit to ips_kernel). The only way I could see someone disabling the anti-piracy measures would be to use a previous copy of the encoded files (as IPB is unencoded now) and then conjure up their own copies of the new functions... but obviously that is going to be very unstable, and probably not worth their bother. (Note, I'm not debating that IPS should do this, only that it's possible to do) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quick Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Maybe IPS should AT LEAST Zend Encode the PHP file that checks to see if it's a valid license. Tony: IonCube is not secure, neither is Zend, both have been decoded but Zend has been decoded less in terms of their version count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mat Barrie Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Maybe IPS should AT LEAST Zend Encode the PHP file that checks to see if it's a valid license. Tony: IonCube is not secure, neither is Zend, both have been decoded but Zend has been decoded less in terms of their version count. Really? IPS dropped Zend support some time ago - presumably due to flawed security (I mean, what other reason is there?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Management Lindy Posted February 5, 2008 Management Share Posted February 5, 2008 It always amuses me when someone counters a move for increased anti-piracy mechanisms with "people will still pirate it!" Yes, true enough, you will always have those determined enough to use it without paying for it.... however, I'd argue that simply doing nothing on that very premise is, well, ridiculous. It's entirely possible to minimize piracy, even if some still make it through the system. The term "nulled" also makes me rather nauseous. Let's not pretend it requires any sort of skill beyond that of a third grader to take a viewable source application and... "null" it. If you take away the viewable source aspect, it's no longer to be nulled by your average third grader. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 But then, unless very good documentations come out, quality of modifications may slip or new coders may not know where to start, all because certain functions cannot be read. I agree with Lindy and that, but its a two-way system, if you stop one, you stop the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfarber Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Like Lindy, the term "nulled" amuses me. What is there to "null" in IPB? It's viewable source, and the only "callbacks" to us are for update checks and news/bulletins. :rolleyes: Removing a copyright at the bottom of the page is hardly nulling a viewable source script. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigs Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 So.. a n00b question then.. if I remove the copyright from my board, it would be classed as "null" even though I have a licence? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsey_ Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I think so If you dont pay the $275 it is illegal from the second you remove it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigs Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I haven't removed it incase anyone thinks I have :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyF Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I expect it would count as a breach against your license conditions :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Energizer Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Like Lindy, the term "nulled" amuses me. What is there to "null" in IPB? It's viewable source, and the only "callbacks" to us are for update checks and news/bulletins. :rolleyes: Removing a copyright at the bottom of the page is hardly nulling a viewable source script. However, you can see through this whether somebody has a valid licence... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 However, i wouldn't want to see IPB IonCube encoded. I already got CommunitySEO encoded and soon i will have IP.Nexus encoded( :whistle: ). Here's a good one: http://www.no-copy.org/movie-play.html . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Κeith Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 However, you can see through this whether somebody has a valid licence... How? There is no way a visitor to a site would possibly know if the copyright was removed legally. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Energizer Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 How? There is no way a visitor to a site would possibly know if the copyright was removed legally. :P Not every visitor but bfarber! :P ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 They can do that anyway if they suspect a site. I think the feature being suggested is to stop them from being able to "null" it in the first place by using an encoded license checker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsey_ Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 They can do that anyway if they suspect a site. I think the feature being suggested is to stop them from being able to "null" it in the first place by using an encoded license checker. Yes thats what i was thinking It would be a good Idea Ips will be spending big amount of hours doing 3.0 for nothing :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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