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Troubleshooting

The dist won't import / "bad marshal data"​

The protected dist was almost certainly built with a different CPython version than the one running it. The marshal/bytecode format is version-specific. Rebuild with the same Python version you ship for, and make sure Obfy is installed into that interpreter.

obfy build can't import the runtime​

obfy build needs the bundled runtime importable from the --python you pass. Make sure Obfy is installed into that interpreter (the runtime ships with the obfy package):

python -m pip install obfy   # using the same interpreter you pass to --python

Code breaks only at --level 4​

Level 4 renames public names across the whole tree, which breaks code that looks names up dynamically (by string, getattr, or framework auto-discovery). Exclude the affected files so they stay as plain source, or drop to --level 3:

obfy build --src ./app --out ./dist --level 4 --exclude "*/plugins/*"

See Excluding files.

The dist refuses to run​

If you built with --license, the runtime enforces its terms locally. Common causes:

  • Expired — the expires date has passed (and anti_rollback blocks clock tricks).
  • Wrong machine — a machines, hostnames, or disks binding doesn't match the current host.
  • Anti-debug — built with --anti-debug and a tracer/debugger is attached.
  • Anti-tamper — built with --anti-tamper and the on-disk loader or manifest.json was modified.

A secret (.env, key) ended up in the dist​

Every non-.py file under --src is copied into the dist. Point --src at your code package rather than your repo root, or build from a code-only staging tree.

I can't run obfy build — not authorized​

Your machine isn't authorized, or you're out of seats. Run obfy login and obfy register to claim a seat slot (logging in alone isn't enough), then check obfy whoami. Revoke an unused device from the portal's Devices page if you've hit the per-seat machine limit. On an air-gapped machine, authorize with an offline activation (obfy register --offline → obfy activate <file>) instead. See Seats and devices.