Licensing a Custom Toolbox

We've developed a Simulink Toolbox that we'd like to protect behind a license.

I've searched far and wide for a way to do this, without any luck. We do not want to obfuscate the code, we want to somewhat prevent the toolbox from loading or be useable without a license check.

I talked to Licensing companies and they do not know either. They can protect a Matlab App with their tool, but I don't see how we can package our models into an app.

The blocks we want to protect are mainly legacy_code type that do in-line C code replacement. It is a kind of API between our hardware micro-controller drivers and the control code.

[John D'Errico]

There is always the honor system. Oh. Yeah. Right. Good luck on that front. :)

[Rik]

Especially without obfuscation this may not be effective.

[Quentin Coret]

I'm resigning myself to the fact I won't be able to do it without some kind of pre-compilation.

Answer 1

[Kirthi]

Hello Quentin,

MATLAB does not currently provide a licensing system for custom toolboxes. Even though you do not wish to obfuscate, obscuring your source code for end users can help, you may consider p-coding your files. More information regarding p-coding MATLAB files can be found at the following link:

http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/protect-your-source-code.html

[Rik]

And if you're hiding your source code anyway, it might helpt to obfuscate the code you're putting in the p-file, since p-files can be decompiled to retrieve the original (the actual exact text, not just the syntax).

You can use my minify function to remove comments and replace good variable/function names with compressed (numbered) names. It is intended to retain all functionality your original code has, although not every syntax is supported.

[Walter Roberson]

The pcode algorithm was changed a small number of releases ago. I do not know if anyone has decoded the new algorithm.