How to hiding code for a package

There's something else you could try - since you can't hide the code,
obfuscate it. Hide the real thing in a large pile of useless,
complicated, awfully formatted code that would stop anyone except the
most desperate (including yourself, after a couple of weeks/months)
from trying to understand it. The best solution would be to compile
the code, but R is not there yet.

-----Original Message-----
From: Prof Brian Ripley [mailto:ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk] 
Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2005 5:35 AM
To: Gary Wong
Cc: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
Subject: Re: [R] How to hiding code for a package


What you ask is impossible.  For a function to be callable it 
has to be 
locatable and hence can be printed.

One possibility is to have a namespace, and something like

foo <- function(...) foo_internal(...)

where foo is exported but foo_internal is not.  Then foo_internal is 
hidden from casual inspection, but it can be listed by cognescenti.

Why do you want to do this?  Anyhone can read the source code of your 
package, and any function which can be called can be 
deparsed, possibly 
after jumping through a few hoops.

On Sat, 30 Jul 2005, Gary Wong wrote:

Hey everyone,

I have made a package and wish to release it but
before then I have a problem. I have a few functions
in this package written in R that I wish to hide such
that after installation, someone can use say the
function >foo(parameters = "") but cannot do >foo.
Typing foo should not show the source code or at least
not all of it. Is there a way to do this ? I have
searched the mailing list and used google, and have
found something like "[R] Hiding internal package
functions for the doc. pkg-internal.Rd" but this seems
different since it seems that the keyword internal
just hides the function from showing in the index and
hides documentation, not the function itself. Can
someone help? Thanks

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595