Script encoding

[siyisoy]

Hi
I wish to encode my PHP scripts. I know that programs like Zend encoder,ioncube encoder does this with a price. Is there any open source stable programs that does this for free?
2nd question: I want to use it on my site which is hosted by a firm. So will it be possible for me to do this without any requesting anything from hosting firm? Because I see that some encoding programs need to be installed on the server.
Thanks

[adi]

http://turck-mmcache.sourceforge.net/index_old.html

Quote from their webpage:

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.

[siyisoy]

Yes
but doesnt this need to be installed on the server?

[adi]

Yes it does. Sorry. 🙂
Have a look here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/freelock/

[siyisoy]

It gives this error

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: file_get_contents() in /var/www/html/yayin/freelock/freelockenc.php on line 127

[siyisoy]

Anybody who have worked with freelock software?
Or any other suggestions for script encoding?