Hide PHP source code on local server

Question

I have a management system built in PHP that will run locally on multiple computers. I want to hide the source code from the user of the system. I do not want to share the code but only the application.

The user can view the application, use it and can also make changes but I don't want the user to get access to the PHP files or any other project files as they are placed in htdocs (Xampp) and www (wamp) folder.

I have searched so far and I couldn't find out but only some decoders:

ionCube
Zend Guard
PHP Obfuscator

run it on a webserver and ask them to access via their browser? — edmondscommerce, Jun 13 '14 at 10:20
Your goals seem at odds with each other... you want users to be able to make changes but not allow them access to the source to do so? — Psychemaster, Jun 13 '14 at 10:27

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 13 '14 at 10:24

I would suggest mounting this on a local webserver instead and asking the users to access this over a network connection in thier browser rather than directly from localhost. This way, the code will be isolated on the webserver, and as long as you don't "share" the root folder on the network, they won't be able to see the source files in any way.

If you must encrypt the code, then you've already seen the 2 most popular ways of encoding. Xampp can be configured to use IonCube and ZendGuard. Just ensure that you encode it in a way that can be decoded on the client machine (you can encode to differing PHP versions)

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 13 '14 at 10:32

As @Edmondscommerce stated, I think the most viable option is to host it externally. This could be in a local network so that you don't have to host it online. There are many disadvantages to run and store your files locally (each client will have to run a webserver, updates will be disastrous and you, rightly so, have security concerns).

That said, if it has to run locally, there are still some ways to hide the contents of the files depending on the user(s) of the system. If the user is not an admin and you do have those rights, you could set the the server files to inaccessible using the local OS' methods (I.e. revoke read and write rights). Be sure that the webserver will have to be given at least read access to the files in order to serve them to the local user.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 24 '17 at 08:51

0

you can put your source code in some where hidden in the host and change the server root path form "C:\xampp\htdocs" to your new one.

answered Sep 24 '17 at 08:51

Manar Gul

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Hide PHP source code on local server

3 Answers3