i was trying to figure out , how to protect a new script that was made and also is unique too, so here you go:,i have a new script that someone made for me, and i want to sell some copies of it,now : 1.how do i protect the files? 2.how to make sure that the script is installed on one domain only? 3.how to track down if other sites will be using my script illegally? also is it possible to add a code to get a callback? please any advice will appreciate! thank you
Unless you're using additional software like ioncube, there is no real way to protect the source of a PHP script. You can obfuscate it and make it harder to understand, but truly protecting it is nigh-impossible.
Any hacker worth his/her salt is going to put your code through your own de-obfusication routines, then push it through a source beautifier to get crystal clear sources.. So the only way to protect your code is to run it on your own, well-protected, server. Make it a service, not a software product.
i am still looking at options,as i dont have any experience in coding,php i had a script done,and they are not a lot of them on the market,so some how i need to keep track of them, also i want it to do it one script for one domain only, also how do other scripts have call back? when someone is using illegal script on his/her site? sorry,not a coder, thank you for any advice,
Full protection of a distributed PHP script is TECHNICALLY impossible. You can create a script that sends logs back to you etc, or only functions under certain domain names, but I understand you're not a coder, so I don't blame you for not knowing that a 2 year old can remove all those functions in 5 seconds or less. That said, if there was a way to do this without the worries of such protection being removed, how were you gonna force the webmaster to quit using your code?? - unless you're an e-gangster. But here's the way I protect my PHP apps. I'll describe it in a way that even you as a non-coder may understand. PHP is a server side language. So, I keep the PHP code on my server, where the code cannot be seen/copied/tampered with. I then create a client side application, using a client side language such as actionscript or Javascript(AJAX) which conects to the PHP code on my server. I create the client side code in such a way that its very hard to alter without breaking the app. Of course hosting the PHP code to thousands of clients will murder your wallet.
Unless you discovered some unseen programming algorithms, programmers can clone your site without having the code. They just need to understand how site works, what it does and write the code to do that. They may even write better, faster code and create better interface to do the same thing. Usually for every "unique" script there are dozens of similar ones done by people that also think they have something unique and are not aware of each other. The real business value is not contained exclusively within the code, it's a more complex entity including specifications (you can patent), interface, brand (you can trademark), pr and marketing you build around it. It's important to get your business on top on a market or niche and build awareness to get a big market share.
Try code obfuscation. You can also pre-compile your source code using commercial products like Zend. This way, the code is not readily readable to human since it is in binary form. But then it is not free of course.
ioncube, zend guard, http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=949304, spbas.com, http://www.phplicensescript.com, http://www.phplicengine.com/ If it is really good code they will get at it no matter what you try. Only the noobs are kept away from these type of stuff. Those that don't know how to code or crack. Which is what you want. You don't want someone to take your work and resell it which always happens. The reason I stopped producing scripts myself. To this day my scripts are being renamed and resold by others for low profits and they were created back in 07-08. hahaha. create a license system. determine if you want it yearly or a one time single domain license, etc. set up localkey call back system or each page refresh key checker. encrypt a number of files. make updates often and improve the code, but make them not free updates. Small cost to update. make support for only licensed domains. no license domain is no support. make support a pay system even for paid customers or support costs extra, make sure you name the cost up front in the sales page. make new content for the script and charge for the new content. get a legal team and make sure you send out DCMA notices for anything that looks like a copy of your script that is illegal and don't be afraid to back it up with legal action.
Create your customer database on your own server with hash(serialize) encrypted key. client will purchase your product and install your software on their server, whenever software run, you should run small code which connects to your server and validate your serialize code. You should apply curl or socket programming in php. Also mapped client ip-address which should not change on each time run.