Turning PHP script into binary

rsassine

Hello anyone,
Is there a convert utility in PHP that will convert a PHP scripts into a Windows binary program. I dont want to install PHP on a user's machine. I just want a simple program to be run there without using Visual C++.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Raymond

irish

Well, with Zend you can compile your PHP code, but you still need the Zend software running as an interpreter on the server. It really good at making code run better, and protecting the code from prying eyes, but it will not provide you the functionality you are looking for.

There is no way that I know of to make PHP a standalone programming language. There always needs to be some type of interpreter, and until Microsoft builds one into their OS, you are out of luck I am afraid.

rsassine

Oh boy! Thanks

coditoergosum

Here are a couple links to check out.

http://www.scriptol.com/

Thread on zend.com that speaks of the existence of a PHP compiler

maybe worth looking into?

Zend also has a solution to the problem you are facing. They have a tool that will "encode" PHP, which they claim "protects source code from copyright infringement". The downfall is that to run the "encoded" php you have to install the zend optimizer (free). If you were ambitious you could create an installer that would install the zend optimizer and your encoded php all at once, making it possible to easily install and run a PHP app on a client machine. It's somewhat similar to Java... you have code the means nothing unless run under a "byte code interpreter" (java virtual machine)... so to make it run, you install both your code, and the machine to run the code. Anyway, if you want to check that out go here: http://zend.com/store/products/zend-encoder.php .

I haven't personally used any of these, but I'd be very interested in hearing what you find out about any or all of them... especially scriptol, if it works well I think it could be very cool.

coditoergosum

Haha, I didn't see irish's reply before posting mine. He beat me to it... concerning the zend stuff.

There's also another way around the problem, and that's to use the cli version of php. Basically, you would need to distribute the php.exe file with your app, and have a shortcut that calls it like this: php c:\path\to\file.php -q. There's an interseting article about this very subject on phpbuilder called replaing Perl scripts with PHP scripts . I've known about this capability before, and I've played around with it a bit. Have never had a need to really develop a script specifically for it though.