jxcore can't protect source code

Question

I saw from blog that jxcore can create an executable based on a js code (to run as a command line application) and protect the source code from being seen easily.

But when I tried the following, I saw the excutable file (in Ubuntu) still contains the source

# jx package test1.js
# change library and extract attribute in file test1.jxp to be false
# jx compile test1.jxp
# grep "this is test1" test1 
  Binary file test1 matches

The little JS file test1.js

console.log("this is test1");

I understand there is no perfect way of protecting an application from being reversed. But I just hoped there is no simple way (like "strings" command) to grab source code out of executable.

Answer 1

The blog post you read is, simply put, outdated and wrong. The "protection" features provided by JXCore were severely flawed, and were largely removed in later releases of the project.

Do not use JXCore. Development on the project was halted in March 2016; it has fallen significantly behind the node.js platform, and provides no real benefits over open solutions like pkg.