# liexusong/php-beast

PHP source code encrypt module (PHP源码加密扩展)

Repository: https://github.com/liexusong/php-beast
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/php-beast
Language: C
License Family: other
Last push: 2021-08-16T11:17:34+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4834, "days_push": 1843, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1738, forks 509 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:29.999647+00:00)

## What it is
php-beast is a PHP extension written in C that encrypts PHP source code files so they can be distributed without exposing the original code. It supports AES, DES, and Base64 encryption, file expiration timestamps, and machine-binding via network card addresses.

## Use cases
- encrypt php source code before distributing to clients
- protect commercial php application from being read or modified
- set an expiration date on encrypted php files
- lock php code to run only on specific machines
- batch encrypt an entire php project directory

## When to choose
- you distribute proprietary PHP code and want to prevent reading or tampering
- you need license-style expiration or hardware binding for PHP deployments
- you want a free self-hosted alternative to commercial PHP encoders like ionCube or SourceGuardian

## When to avoid
- you need support for modern PHP versions beyond 7.1
- you require strong cryptographic guarantees - the encryption key ships with the extension and can be extracted
- your project is open source and code protection is unnecessary

## Facets
- artifact type: plugin
- maturity: maintenance
- function: security, cryptography, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, security
- platform: windows, php
- tags: php-extension, source-code-encryption, code-protection, obfuscation, phpize, php, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- liexusong/php-beast (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:29.999647+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:30:36.739663+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/liexusong/php-beast (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:29.999647+00:00, sha 52e277048940)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.