svorgodne Posted January 3, 2018 Posted January 3, 2018 Hi there and happy new year. I have a question. One client wants me to re write some vlx routines but he doesn't have the source codes, so I would have to write them from scratch. The problem is that I don't want to run them in my computer because they might have some malicious code. It happened to me already some years ago with a .lsp routine and of course, I want to avoid it. Any recommendation either to run the .vlx safely and find out what is the task? or how could I decode it to a level that I am sure it doesn't contain any malicious code. In any case, thanks in advance. Quote
Tharwat Posted January 3, 2018 Posted January 3, 2018 Hi, No chances to know what the program may do unless you run it. Since your client wants you to re-write the same program, so they might have ran the program and already know what the program does. Are not they? Quote
svorgodne Posted January 3, 2018 Author Posted January 3, 2018 Thanks to both... It is a new client that I am already getting to know better, so, still on the process to build the "Trust Bridge". I'll know soon more about. @Lee, what is the VM? Virtual Machine? If so... how to run the program without affecting the rest of the computer's performance? Thanks again Quote
Lee Mac Posted January 3, 2018 Posted January 3, 2018 @Lee, what is the VM? Virtual Machine? If so... how to run the program without affecting the rest of the computer's performance? Yes, you could use a free VM client such as Oracle VirtualBox, install an appropriate OS and AutoCAD release, and then you can test your programs without the possibility of anything affecting the host machine. If the virtual machine becomes corrupted, it is simply a file (.vhd/.vdi) on the host machine which can be deleted/recreated from a backup. Quote
svorgodne Posted January 3, 2018 Author Posted January 3, 2018 Sorry for my "Naiveness" but I do not know how to do that... Do you do it locally? or can the program be tested online Quote
Lee Mac Posted January 3, 2018 Posted January 3, 2018 Sorry for my "Naiveness" but I do not know how to do that... Do you do it locally? or can the program be tested online No, you create & run the VM locally (allocating appropriate resources from the host machine, such as CPU cores/RAM/disk space), and then when working inside the VM it is essentially the same as working on a separate PC (with some caveats). Quote
Grrr Posted January 3, 2018 Posted January 3, 2018 Alternatively: Maybe try asking asking for demos/dialog screenshots/link that commercialise the program. Quote
BIGAL Posted January 4, 2018 Posted January 4, 2018 Svorgodne the whole idea of doing VLX is to keep your copyright. What I am posting here may sound cynical but I have been involved in commercial software and if some one does not want to pay for it they will try to find a way around it. Why did they not go back to the original supplier ? If they have ceased trading but can get in touch with them ask for source code. When you say they want changes can they be added afterwards ? Is it a case of they have a price to do the changes and you are much cheaper ? Quote
SLW210 Posted January 4, 2018 Posted January 4, 2018 Wouldn't it be safer and simpler to ask the client what they want the codes to do and work toward that goal, since you will be starting from new anyway? Quote
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