executing a binary file

i have a large script file i need to encrypt. reason being i dont want anyone to be able to see whats inside.

i encrypted the file using the crypt commmand but when i go to run the file, it says that it can not execute binary files.

is there any other way to distort the contents of a script file and still be able to run it.

kinda like a command. say for instance who. if you do a more on the command who. you will see that it is encrypted. how can i do that to my script and still be able to run it?

thanks

Have you considered modifying file permissions? Superuser would still be able to access the script of course.

I'm pretty sure 'who' was written in C. You could re-write the script in C.

Note: 'who' is not encrypted. It is an executable program, compiled from C source code.

There are a number of shell obfuscators around, you could try searching for one of those and try that way, in all probability that would be sufficient.

Out of curiosity, why you don't want anyone to see the script?

the thing is i really hate anything that isn't shell programming. i'm sure there are ways to make both c and perl reduce the amount of work required to write shell scripts, but the thing is, i hate change. i love shell and i've been using it for eternity to do all that i need done and i think i'll continue.

i dont want anyone looking at the file for personal reasons. its a script i dont want anyone prying in on

Fair enough. I just find it a curiosity that you'd ask people here for advice on scripts, but you don't want others to look at them.