Encrypting PHP files

[neonetman]

I'm looking for a reliable (and free of charge) way of encrypting PHP files so I can distribute them without revealing my source code?

[ass17]

Problem you have if you encrypt a file , for a server to decrypt and process it, it will need the key you encrypted it with. So people can easy write out your decrypted file to a text file.

 

Give PHP BLENC a try.

[MordyT]

Investigate ioncube. Does exactly what you want.

[dwhyte85]

You could obfuscate - if you google "obfuscate php" you will probably find a few online tools that can do it for free.

[localzuk]

Whilst there are systems available which can encrypt PHP, such as IonCube, they are not 100% secure. There are still ways to decrypt the files.

 

The question you should ask is - does the code actually need to be closed source? Could you sell it with a license that prohibits code usage outside of the system, and disallowing reuse? What is the likelihood that someone will steal the code?

[Arreks]

I don't think encryption would be the path you want to go down, the problem with encryption is that it's ruled by algorithms. If you know the algorithm, you can get the original code. Obfuscation would be more apt judging by your requirement; it will completely mess around with your code, renaming and generally throwing around everything so that it's completely unreadable (and unreversable to a certain extent) - the code will still work if they took it, but they'd have no idea how to use it or how to change it.

 

That being said, no amount of obfuscation or encryption can stop a keen cracker. If you JUST want to prevent skiddies taking your code, then use any obfuscation software (i'd recommend PHP Protect). If you're storing sensitive information or passwords, then obfuscation will only make it a bit harder for them to find them.

[plexer]

I don't think encryption would be the path you want to go down, the problem with encryption is that it's ruled by algorithms. If you know the algorithm, you can get the original code.

 

Sorry but that's not how encryption works at all.

 

Ben

[localzuk]

Sorry but that's not how encryption works at all.

 

Ben

 

Ironically, it is how obfuscation works.

[Arreks]

I don't think encryption would be the path you want to go down, the problem with encryption is that it's ruled by algorithms. If you know the algorithm and the key/cipher you can get the original code.

 

Fixed.