On Feb 8, 2010, at 2:32 PM, Brian Dunning <brian@briandunning.com>  
wrote:

> Hey all -
>
> I'm selling a custom PHP solution to FileMaker users. It uses  
> FileMaker's PHP API, so everyone who has FileMaker Server is already  
> set up to use it, but very few of them have any knowledge of how to  
> set up a server or do anything PHP related. But I do want to add  
> some level of code obfuscation to prevent them from making simple  
> changes to my code that allow them to exceed the privileges they've  
> purchased.
>
> I've looked at custom code encryption services like Ioncube and  
> phpCipher, but in my estimation, deploying the needed server-side  
> code for these is going to be beyond the capabilities of a large  
> segment of my customers. I would rather have a few customers cheat  
> me than offer a product that most customers are unable to figure out  
> how to run.
>
> So I was thinking of doing something like base64_encoding the  
> crucial chunk of my code (maybe 20 lines worth) and using eval 
> (base64_decode($that_content)) to run it. I figure that will scare  
> away most of the customers who might be able to edit my code. Can  
> anyone suggest something that goes one better?
>
> - Brian
> --
> PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/)
> To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
>

What about an md5 license hash check for certain modules/ functions?  
It could be kept in a client specific config file and read in during  
the appropriate script execution.

Bastien

Sent from my iPod