What happens if source code is leaked?

[Buricovsky]

Hello, i heard that CD project has been hacked and hackers want to leak some source codes of their games. I don't understand this. Can someone explain it to me? And what happens if i own the game from CD project?

[Washell]

Escrito originalmente por AustrAlien2010:

We write them in decompiled form, so obviously we look at them.

Decompiled code does not have the comments. It may not have meaningful variable names. And it's an interpretation rather than a reversal. Decompiled code and source code look nothing alike. We write source code, not decompiled code.

Take a piece of english text, throw it in google translate to Korean, than throw the result in google translate again to revert it back to english. That's your decompiled code.
This post mangled by google translate:

Escrito originalmente por AustrAlien2010:

We write them in decompiled form. So obviously we see them.

There are no comments in the decompiled code. There may be no meaningful variable names. And that's not a reversal, it's an interpretation. Decompiled code and source code are not the same.

Rather than take a snippet of English text and translate it from Google Translate to Korean, just throw the results back from Google Translate and turn it back into English. This is the decompiled code.

Notice how certain words change? The sentence structure changes? How certain sentences suddenly mean something different?

Same happens with a decompiler.

[McGeorgeOfTheJungle]

Escrito originalmente por AustrAlien2010:

Well, then you decompile it, and then you have it.

Just to clarify more on what people said, when you have source code such as c++, delphi, VB, etc when you compile it - it now becomes a binary. Decompiling will never return it to it's original source form, it can be easily decompiled into Assembly, but into c++ etc no.

[nullable]

Escrito originalmente por McGeorgeOfTheJungle:

Escrito originalmente por AustrAlien2010:

Well, then you decompile it, and then you have it.

Just to clarify more on what people said, when you have source code such as c++, delphi, VB, etc when you compile it - it now becomes a binary. Decompiling will never return it to it's original source form, it can be easily decompiled into Assembly, but into c++ etc no.

Well that's not true either. It's just C++ code, or any language, you generate from decompiling code won't match the original source code very much like Washell's example highlights.

You can find all sorts of decompilers with a simple google search for a variety of languages.