how to protect a php script

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Posted by net4me, 06-20-2008, 04:45 PM
I want to sell licences for my php script and want to protect some part of the script , license is set to work only per domain, what do you suggest? how to efectively protect my script with a small investment? Last edited by net4me; 06-20-2008 at 04:48 PM.
Posted by RN-Chris, 06-20-2008, 11:16 PM
WHMCS uses IonCube. Looked at that?
Posted by 100mb, 06-27-2008, 07:56 AM
do u mean something to protect the code like abfuscator
Posted by xrvel, 06-27-2008, 10:35 AM
I 've heard IonCube, but never use that.
Posted by Dark Light, 06-27-2008, 10:45 AM
You're best, and really only, bet is to use ionCube. It is much more "effective" than other alternatives, such as ZendGuard. ionCube will "encrypt" your PHP code and output a new PHP file for every one of yours. These PHP files can then be placed onto your webserver, with runtime loaders which can be loaded dynamically, or be installed globally by the server administrator. If you want licensing, you're probably going to have to look at the Pro or Cerberus encoders; OR write your own licensing system (or use an existing system, such as iono or phpAudit - though while I have used both, I cannot say I recommend them.) Overall, the cheapest option would be to purchase the Entry level ionCube encoder and write your own licensing system. If you are not able to do this, purchase licenses to existing systems - though this will cost much more unless your time is extremely valuable. Hope that helps,
Posted by ccole, 06-27-2008, 11:04 AM
I had the same question. I've looked into IonCube, but sometimes I'd really prefer not to encrypt my code. I'd just like to license it out. A good example like this I think is cPanel. Their code isn't encrypted, but they license it out pretty well.
Posted by vx|brian, 06-27-2008, 11:11 AM
Yeah, but however a lot of cPanel's core is compiled binaries which solves the problem of people reading your code.
Posted by Dark Light, 06-27-2008, 11:58 AM
In order to successfully license a system, your application must be compiled, obfuscated or encrypted enough so that it's not worth the effort for someone to reverse engineer it; or have a system in place where it is extremely unlikely anyone would be successful in doing so.

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