[Protect php source code]

To encrypt php source files is not the problem, the problem is that when you decrypt your php files in an extension library you will have to parse the decrypted php code to a script to be eval'ed.

 

sometin like this:

<?PHP

dl('cryptor.so');

eval(decryptFile('myEncryptedFile.php'));

?>

 

Should you want to sell this code to a customer, they can easily just echo the contents of decryptFile('filename'); and view the source. So this was a bad idea to start off with.

 

My next challenge is going to be to try and modify the Zend Engine to be able to accept either a normal php file or an encrypted php file. By doing this i should be able to give a customer a new php library as well as encrypted files which would not interfere with his current php files. Please give me your thoughts on this.

 

Well, you can do the call with call_user_function() inside the extension to decipher the file, and zend_eval_string() to run the code, so no echo there.