Can you compile PHP code and upload a binary-ish file which will just be run by the byte code interpreter

Question

I know that PHP is compiled to byte code before it is run on the server  and then that byte code can be cached so that the whole script doesn t have to be re-interpreted with every web access   But can you  compile  PHP code and upload a binary-ish file  which will just be run by the byte code interpreter

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PHP doesn t really get compiled as with many programs   You can use Zend s encoder to make it unreadable though

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If you are allowed to run real native binaries  then this is your compiler   https   github com ircmaxell php-compiler  It s a PHP compiler written in PHP   It compiles PHP code to its own VM code  This VM code can then either be interpreted by its own interpreter  also written in PHP  isn t that crazy   or it can be translated to Bitcode  And using the LLVM compiler framework  clang and co   this Bitcode can be compiled into a native binary for any platform that LLVM supports  pretty much any platform that matters today   You can choose to either do that statically or each time just before the code is executed  JIT style   So the only two requirements for this compiler to work on your system is an installed PHP interpreter and an installed clang compiler   If you are not allowed to run native binaries  you could use the compiler above as an interpreter and let it interpret its own VM code  yet this will be slow as you are running a PHP interpreter that itself is running on a PHP engine  so you have a  double interpretation

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After this question was asked  Facebook launched HipHop for PHP which is probably the best-tested PHP compiler to date  seeing as it ran one of the world   s 10 biggest websites   However  Facebook discontinued it in favour of HHVM  which is a virtual machine  not a compiler   Beyond that  googling PHP compiler turns up a number of 3rd party solutions   PeachPie   PeachPie GitHub compiles PHP to  NET and  NET Core can be compiled into self-contained binary file runs on Mac  Linux  Windows  Windows Core  ARM        Phalanger   GitHub  download   Wikipedia compiles to  NET  CIL  looks discontinued from July 2017 and doesn t seem to support PHP 7     phc   compiles to native binaries not very active now  February 2014      last version in 2011  last change in summer 2013   Roadsend PHP Compiler   GitHub  GitHub of a rewrite free  open source implementation of PHP with compiler compiles to native binaries  Windows  Linux  discontinued since 2010 till contributors found     website down  stays on GitHub where last change is from early 2012   bcompiler   PECL extension of PHP experimental compiles to PHP bytecode  but can wrap it in Windows binary that loads PHP interpreter  see bcompiler write exe footer   manual  looks discontinued now  February 2014      last change in 2011   Project Zero   Wikipedia  IBM incubator of changes for WebSphere sMash supported by IBM compiles to Java bytecode looks discontinued now  February 2014      website down  looks like big hype in 2008 and 2009   Bambalam   compiles to stand-alone Windows binaries the binaries contain bytecode and a launcher looks discontinued now  February 2014      last change in 2006   BinaryPHP   compiles to C   looks discontinued now  February 2014      last change in 2003

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phc allows you to compile PHP programs into shared libraries  which can be uploaded to the server  The PHP program is compiled into binaries  It s done in such a way as to support evals  includes  and the entire PHP standard library

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If you are simply looking for producing a binary executable from a PHP script  then please avoid trying to make your question extremely precise because it will make it appear that you know exactly what you need  Besides  most PHP developer have absolutely zero clue about what a bytecode is   With that said  the answers is YES  I have just finished compiling a PHP script into a binary  And not just any binary  I have used the CDE application  link to Wayback Machine  the original link is now broken  to turn it into an portable binary that can be distributed with all the dependencies and executed without any issue    and it works beautifully   All you need is to use phc

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The short answer is  no    The current implementation of PHP is that of an interpreted language   You can argue the theoretical aspects of the fact that any language can technically be interpreted or compiled  but as it stands  the current implementations are such that PHP code requires an interpreter to run  and the interpreter manages the executing environment   To answer your question about uploading pre-compiled PHP bytecode  it s probably possible  but you d have to implement a way for the PHP interpreter to read in such a file and work with it   With existing opcode caches out there already  it doesn t seem like a task that would reap much reward

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Um  anybody heard of Zend Guard  which does exactly what this person is asking   It encodes obfuscates PHP code into  machine code

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In php 7 there is the php ini option opcache file cache that saves the bytecode in a specific folder  In could be useful to in php cli script that are  compiled  and saved in a specific folder for a optimized reuse   Opcache it is not compiling but is something similar

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There is also   PHP s  experimental  bcompiler extension     which aims        To encode entire script in a proprietary PHP application   To encode some classes and or functions in a proprietary PHP application   To enable the production of php-gtk applications that could be used on client desktops  without the need for a php exe    To do the feasibility study for a PHP to C converter      The extension is available from PECL

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There are several  compilers  of PHP code  Most of them do not support all of PHP features  since these simply must be interpreted during run time   We are using Phalanger - http   www php-compiler net  - that is supporting even those dirty PHP dynamic features  and still is able to compile them as  NET assembly  that can be distributed as a standalone DLL

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see 5 5 x with the integrated OPcache module  volatile in a shared memory  much more performance and the dynamism principle of php remain untouched   http   www php net manual en opcache installation php

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Since the question was first asked  there has been a change to that answer from a flat out  no  to a  kind of   http   github com facebook hiphop-php wiki  Hip Hop for PHP was a compiler that took PHP code and turned it into highly optimized C   Apparently  some functions are not supported  for example  explode    I found this question while looking for more information on how to implement HipHop and thought I d speak up     Since 2013 Facebook no longer use it  however  and it has been discontinued in favour of HHVM  which is not a compiler  https   en wikipedia org wiki HipHop for PHP

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There is also bcgen  a PHP7 port of bcompiler   https   github com vjardin bcgen   PHP7 2 only

[php] Can you "compile" PHP code and upload a binary-ish file, which will just be run by the byte code interpreter?

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