[gmpi] Re: 3.18 Copy Protection

>Isn't it simpler to leave locking out of band?
>
>Example:
>
>Sonar has a locked plugin.  You can only use it in Sonar.  So the plugin
>has a variable 'can_load' that defaults to 0.  The plugin dll has an entry
>point that IS NOT PART OF GMPI called 'unlock()'.  Sonar can read a
>challenge from the plugin, encrypt it with Cakewalk's private key and then
>pass it to unlock().  The plugin can check it against Cakewalk's public
>key and then set the can_load variable.
>
>Any host that does not do this handshake will fail to load the plugin, and
>it is not trivially spoofable.

I'm with this technique. Not that I'd ever be likely to write hosts
that did this, but it seems much better for everyone. If host Foo
comes with locked plugins, it should probably have its own "locking"
mechanism to control them. More secure for the owners of Foo and its
locked plugins, less hassle for everyone else.

>And it's all out of band with GMPI.  We *could* standardize that.  Then I
>fear that plugins would start to come locked, and only be usable in
>some list of hosts, which would exclude new hosts, free hosts, etc.

Always a risk, no matter what we do.

--p

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