How to protect the code if they offer development assistance?

Question

Data protection

Hello! Developed a bot for one of the popular platforms.

However, due to being very busy, there is no time to do it at the proper level.
I get emails quite often, and this time they asked for a link to the bot's source code or access to closed source code to "help fix bugs". Is it worth it and what options are there to protect the code?

The fear is that there are only a few thousand users in the bot, of which about five thousand are active. All users came by themselves. If you invest in advertising, then a large audience is possible, which I would not want to (especially, to produce clones). Competition is good, but as soon as I have time, I will implement all the features that people asked for, and also rewrite the main code. Therefore, this question arose. Thank you for your attention!

Answer 1

Is it worth it and what options are there to protect the code?

There are no options to protect the code if you give away its sources.
You can make a plugin system and provide the source code for its interfaces.
Raise a test instance of your bot and start a separate repository with plugins in the public domain.
People will be able to make plugins and your testbed will pull releases from the master branch.
If everything is fine, then the plugins can be taken into the main installation.
For a bot, plugins can be made in the form of additional event handlers for certain events.

Answer 2

Program code must be open. (C) Richard Stallman.

Answer 3

It is possible to protect the code only legally - it costs money, it takes a long time, it is difficult, it is easy to manage. It is technically impossible to transfer the code without transferring it. It's like giving a photograph to a brow and forbidding them to look at it :)
Pass not the whole code, but a piece. Let him correct the mistakes in some part, and just stick stubs to the other part.

Answer 4

If the code has non-standard solutions, and in the future you plan to make a profit from it in some way, i.e. Since it is part of a business process, I do not recommend under any conditions, even legally formalized, to provide full access to the source code.
you must have your own "security policy" (it can be either written on paper or just in your head), in which you must understand the risks of certain information leaks, so it will be easier for you to understand what exactly, whom, under what conditions can it be allowed.
If the code simply exists and there is no profit from it and is not planned, then you can either sell it or open access for development by the community of those interested. In this case, it will probably be used anywhere, for which you will be thanked, but with the proper design of the developer community, your code will develop rapidly and possibly, in some way, bring profit in the future. The main pleasure will be provided for sure.

Answer 5

In order to protect the code from the hidden intentions of developers, you must first clearly set the boundaries between important system files and external modules. Third party developers should only have the right to influence external modules and are limited in administrative options. And critical important options and the core of the system should be only at your disposal. This is achieved by disabling a number of programming language functions in certain directories, so some functions allow you to bypass the file system and make changes to the protection. Do not give access to ftp, but use only special programs with severe restrictions or write your own))).

Answer 6

In general, you need to take a separate amount for revision / features, you didn’t subscribe to the lifelong technical support of this bot. Or let them buy the source for the n-sum (which you yourself see). It is necessary to take into account the fact that this bot really has a great future and calculate the price of the source code based on these considerations.
You bend the price of $25,000 for the source code, or $200 / hour for finalization and additions to the functionality...thus, you will protect yourself from taking possession of the source code and become an uber master irremovable (sunny) for those bot support, you can also earn good money by finishing a little a little functionality (including for myself in the future)
It turns out that you came up with a new functionality that would be really cool, offered it to the customer, he paid for the work - you finished the bot for yourself as well. It will turn out that for their money you will finish the bot to suit your needs, the main thing is to properly present these features to the customer and convince him that they are vital to him.