PHPCoder 1.4 review

PHPCoder is a web based front-end to the Turck MMCache encoding functions, which are similar to the Zend Encoder product. Turck MM

License: BSD License File size: 0K Developer: Jason Sheets

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PHPCoder is a web based front-end to the Turck MMCache encoding functions, which are similar to the Zend Encoder product.

Turck MMCache is a free open source PHP accelerator, optimizer, encoder and dynamic content cache for PHP. It increases performance of PHP scripts by caching them in compiled state, so that the overhead of compiling is almost completely eliminated.

Also it uses some optimizations to speed up execution of PHP scripts. Turck MMCache typically reduces server load and increases the speed of your PHP code by 1-10 times.

PHPCoder enables you to encode your PHP scripts and applications into non reversible byte-code, thus preventing users of your programs from viewing or alterting the source code while having full functionality.

Another excellent use for PHPCoder is to encode your applications PHP configuration files, that way someone viewing your source code does not see your databae login and password information.

In addition to encoding PHP scripts PHPCoder allows you to set restrictions on the encoded scripts, you can lock a script to a particular server IP address, server host name, visitor IP, or even place a time limit on the script so it will expire after x amount of time.

PHP Coder also allows you to specify Text, HTML or PHP code that should be prepended and appended to each file before it is encoded, allowing you to easily and securely implement your own licensing scheme.

To use your encoded scripts your clients simply install the free Turck MMCache or the Turck Loader.

Requirements:
Turck MMCache be installed (available on Windows and Unix/Linux)
PHP >= 4.1 (4.3.x highly recommended, 4.1 required)
Apache 1.3/2 or other PHP compatable web-server


What's New in This Release:
Encoding results are now displayed at the top of the screen
Added skip extensions, files with certain extensions will not be encoded
Removed remaining realpath() calls from index.php for portability
index.php: $possibe_extensions is now always unset even in the event that explode does not return an array.


Installation

These installation steps should be executed on the command line, you can accomplish them through FTP clients but this document does not cover the steps to do that.
Commands you should type are in italics.

Extract the phpcoder-x.tgz file by issuing the command: tar zxf phpcoder-x.tgz (replace phpcoder-x.tgz with the file you downloaded)
Enter the phpcoder directory by issuing the: cd phpcoder command
Create the files directory and make it writable: mkdir files; chmod 777 files
Create the encoded directory and make it writable: mkdir encoded; chmod 777 encoded

PHP Coder should now be installed, to encode programs/scripts simply place them in the files directory and then go to http://yoururl/phpcoder and run the encoder, your encoded scripts will be in the encoded directory. For more inforamtion see Using PHPCoder.

Using

Once you have installed PHPCoder following the installation steps above it is easy to begin encoding scripts.

First place the script that you want to be encoded in the files directory (you can do this via FTP but all directories must be chmod 777).
Next telnet into your hosting providor and execute the command chmod -R 777 /path/to/phpcoder/files
Then visit http://yourdomain/phpcoder, set your options and press the submit button.

Note that you must chmod -R 777 your files directory because PHPCoder will cd into each directory and write a temporary file while the directory is being encoded, this is so relative paths in your application are not broken by the encoding process.

Options

The PHPCoder web page has several options you can set before you encode your files, here is a brief run down on some of them:

Recursive Encoding: When this is set to Yes PHPCoder will encode files in all the subdirectories of the files directory, this is enabled by default and should be set to Yes unless you have a good reason to set it to no.

Copy Skipped Files: When this is set to Yes PHPCoder will copy non PHP source files to the encoded directory, this avoids breaking apps and makes it so it is not necessary to merge encoded/unencoded files manually.

Pre Content Code: This is Text, HTML, or PHP code (must be enclosed in ) content that will be prepended to each PHP source file before it is encoded, this is an excellent place to put licensing code, etc.

Post Content Code: This is Text, HTML, or PHP code (must be encloded in ) content that will be appended to each PHP source file before it is encoded, this is a good place for copyright, etc.

Restrictions:
PHPCoder allows you to set several options that restrict the execution of the encoded PHP scripts. These options range from locking to an IP or to a particular amount of time or all of the above.
Restrict Visitor's IP: This can be a single IP or a comma seperated list of IP addresse; if it is set only these ip addresses can view the script, this is a nice feature for a demo that is not feature restricted but is limited to one visitor IP. In a pinch it could be used for a security measure though this is not recommended.
Restrict Server IP: This can be a single IP or a comma seperated list of IP addresesses; if it is set scripts can only be served from these IPs, this enables you to lock the script to a particular server(s) by restricting the IP. This is similar to lock server name but this will prevent the user from moving the script where Restrict Server Name will allow them to move the script should their server or hosting change, for this reason Restrict Server Name is encouraged.
Restrict Server Name: This can be a single server name or a comma seperated list of server names; If this is set the script can only be served from one of these server names, example shadonet.com,yahoo.com. This enables you to lock a script to a particular domain name(s) but allow the user to move the script to a new web host or server as long as it is being served from the same domain.
Expiring Scripts: When a selection is made for Script Expires In: the script will expire after the specified amount of time has passed, for example 5 seconds, 1 week, 2 months, etc. This can be used in conjunction with any of the other restrictions. Alternatively you can type in the time when the script should expire, for example 01/01/2004 will make the script expire January 1st, 2004. This field uses PHP's strtotime format for the time, see http://www.php.net/strtotime for more information.