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?
There is also
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.
Um, anybody heard of Zend Guard, which does exactly what this person is asking. It encodes/obfuscates PHP code into "machine code".
Actually, the Just-In-Time compiler introduced with PHP 8 does in fact compile PHP. Strangely enough, it doesn't really speed up CMS based websites (e.g. WordPress), however, it does open the doors for PHP to compete with the likes of C++. For more information, see the RFC behind the JIT implementation here: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/jit. Also, Matthew Weir O'Phinney has posted a number of insightful blogs that shed light on its capabilities. Start reading here: https://www.zend.com/blog/exploring-new-php-jit-compiler.
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".
