Question

So we’ve got a pretty nifty little PHP app. People have been interested in “leasing” it under a different name.

However, with the current setup – any “top tier admin” (which they would have to be) can view the PHP files.

My boss is a tad concerned with that. Would it be possible (or rather, SMART) to link to external PHP files on our server instead?

So instead of

index.php contents:

<?php include('/lib/header.php'); ?>

and consequently

header.php contents:

<?php /*Stuff I don't want you seeing*/ ?>

would it be possible (and if so, smart) to do something like this

index.php contents:

<?php include('http://site-i-control.com/lib/header.php'); ?>

so they couldn’t see or modify the contents of header.php?

Answer 1

The only way you’re going to be able to accomplish something like this in PHP is to:

1. Develop or otherwise implement code that uses a license key.
2. Encode all or part of the source code using IONcube, SourceGuardian, or other similar products.

Otherwise there is no way to protect PHP code in the way you require.