Protect my class Libraries, can I?

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Cablito - 20 Sep 2004 14:30 GMT

Is there a way to protect my class libraries?

I have for instance, a class library full of my base forms and classes
latter inherited by various projects.

A lot of logic is within those objects and I?d hate to see other companies
or individuals being able to add my DLLs to their .NET solution and using it
at will.

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richlm - 21 Sep 2004 21:24 GMT

You could use
"System.Security.Permissions.StrongNameIdentityPermissionAttribute"
You will need to sign all your assemblies that call the ones you want to
protect with the appropriate key.
Any "foreign" assemblies that try to call your protected ones should get a
security exception.

You can use the attribute at assembly, class, constructor or method level.

It's not impossible to circumvent but better than nothing.

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Olaf Baeyens - 22 Sep 2004 10:10 GMT

> You could use
> "System.Security.Permissions.StrongNameIdentityPermissionAttribute"
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> It's not impossible to circumvent but better than nothing.

Are you sure about this?
I assume that you must also add this, since strong naming will not prevent
VS to use your controls in your strong named dll:

using System.Security.Permissions;

[StrongNameIdentityPermission(SecurityAction.InheritanceDemand,PublicKey="00
24000004....1")]
[StrongNameIdentityPermission(SecurityAction.LinkDemand,PublicKey="0024000
004....1")]
public class MyClass : {
....
}

Note: Do not use SecurityAction.LinkDemand for drag&drop controls intended
to be used by VS since it generates some permission error. This is logical
since VS has a different public key.

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Jonathan Allen - 25 Sep 2004 06:27 GMT

Write good license agreements, slap a bunch of copyrights on it, and be
prepared to hire a lawyer. There is no way to truly protect source code.

Signature

Jonathan Allen

> Is there a way to protect my class libraries?
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> or individuals being able to add my DLLs to their .NET solution and using it
> at will.

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Rakesh Rajan - 27 Sep 2004 19:14 GMT

Hi Cablito,

Have a look at "Licensing Components and Controls" in MSDN:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpguide/htm
l/cpconlicensingcomponentscontrols.asp

HTH,
- Rakesh Rajan

> Is there a way to protect my class libraries?
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> or individuals being able to add my DLLs to their .NET solution and using it
> at will.

Reply to this Message

Protect my class Libraries, can I?

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