Bambalam PHP EXE Compiler/Embedder 1.21 Created by Anders Hammar (c) 2006 Bambalam - www.bambalam.

se/bamcompile bug reports / feedback email: bamcompile@bambalam.se Usage: bamcompile [-options] infile.php [outfile.exe] bamcompile [-options] project_directory mainfile.php [outfile.exe] bamcompile projectfile.bcp Options: -w Hide console window for windowed applications -c Compress output exe (using UPX) -d Do not encode PHP files -e:extension.dll Embed and use PHP extension -i:icon.ico Add icon to exe Revision history: 1.21 2006-08-28: Fixed an issue with apps using extensions crashing if php4ts.dl l was in the system path 1.2 2006-08-24: Added an extension loader - extension dll's can now be embedded Added a project file feature Added support for exe icons UPX is now embedded, it's no longer needed in the system path Upgraded to PHP 4.4.4 Fixed some compatibility issues when running on a system with P HP installed lots of minor bugfixes 1.1 2006-06-09: Added the php_sockets extension to the static build + minor bugfixes - What is it? Bambalam PHP EXE Compiler/Embedder is a free command line tool to convert PHP applications to standalone .exe applications. The exe files produced are totally standalone, no need for php dlls etc. The php code is encoded using the Turck MMCache Encode library (http://turck-mmcache.sourceforge.net) so it's a perfect solution if you want to distribute your application while protecting you r source code. The converter is also suitable for producing .exe files for windowe d PHP applications (created using for example the WinBinder library, www.winbinder .com). It's NOT really a compiler in the sense that it doesn't produce native machine c ode from PHP sources, but it works! - How does it work? The converter embeds encoded PHP source files as resources in a generic statical ly compiled PHP launcher executable. It also has an option to compress the final ex e using the UPX executable compressor (http://upx.sourceforge.net). Simple console appli

cations end up with an executable at a size of 500-600kb. - Does "compiled" PHP applications run faster? Theoritically it should. Having libraries linked statically and by encoding file s (Turck MMCache encodes PHP sources as PHP bytecode, I think) should contribute t o faster applications. But I haven't done any decent tests on it. - What about PHP applications with more than one source file? No problem, the converter is able to embed a whole project directory. Or, if you want, you can create a bamcompile project file (.bcp) and embed files from all over th e place. - What about accessing the embedded files from php? You can access the embedded files just as you're used to. The PHP runtime used h as been modified so that when you're accessing a file it first tries to access it the us ual way (by looking in the path outside the .exe) and if the files aren't found there it looks for it in the embedded filelist. - So the INCLUDE statement works just as it should? Yes, as long as you include stuff using relative paths. - What PHP version is supported? Currently, the converter uses a PHP runtime based on PHP 4.4.4 - What about PHP 5 support? I haven't got around to it, es, and the PHP 4 runtimes produces o. PHP 5 is a bitch to build on windows ther than that..) But as I said, just but I probably will! But PHP 4.4.4 works in most cas alot smaller standalone exe files than PHP 5 would d (well, it's easy to build the standard builds, but o wait for it.

- What libraries / extensions are included? As of version 1.2, php libraries (or extensions) now can be embedded as needed. So, for example, if you're making an application that uses the gd extension, use the -e:php_gd2.d ll option and you'll be fine. You can also use the EXTENSION command when working with bamcomp ile project files. You still have to have access to the php extension dll files when embeddi ng of course, they are shipped together with the PHP distribution. But once you have compiled your exe, that's the only file you have to distribute!

Note however that some extensions use other system dlls which needs to be shippe d together with your compiled exe to make it work. Some examples: php_curl.dll needs libeay32.dll and ssleay32.dll php_mssql.dll needs ntwdblib.dll php_fribidi.dll needs fribidi.dll php_fdf.dll needs FDFTK.dll php_ifx.dll needs isqlt09a.dll php_mhash.dll needs libmhash.dll php_msql.dll needs mSQL.dll But most of them, such as GD, Sockets, Winbinder and Sqlite don't need any syste m dlls and they embed just fine. The following libraries are included statically: Turck MMCache bcmath calendar com ctype ftp mysql odbc pcre win32std xml zlib - Can I add a custom Icon to my exe? Yes, use the -i:icon.ico command line option or the ICON project file command. - What about PHP.INI? Can I embed that as well? Yes, just include the php.ini in the root of your project. However, if you want to use extensions, use the internal extension loader instead. Older versions of Bamcompile used the embedded php.ini to load extensions but it was messy and honestly didn't work that well. You can still embed php.ini to set ini specific settings. - What is the format of Bamcompile Project files? A project file has the extension .bcp and is built up using simple commands, one on each line: MAINFILE mainfile.php Sets the mainfile to whatever mainfile you want to use. OUTFILE outfile.exe Sets the output file exe name. Optional. ICON icon.ico Sets an icon for the output exe file. Optional. COMPRESS Compresses final exe file with UPX

DONTENCODE Do not encode php files WINDOWED Windowed application, removes the "dos box" otherwise shown EMBED directory/file.php EMBED whole_directory EMBED directory/*.png Used to embed files. You can embed single files, directories or files using a fi lters. Directories are embedded recursivly DESTINATION destination_path/ Sets the destination path in the embedded filesystem. Use the destination comman d before an embed command to change where the embedded files end up. The default d estination path is, of course, the root /. EXTENSION path_to/extension.dll Adds a PHP extension to the internal extension loader. The extension will be emb edded and loaded from memory. - What about license? Just how free is this utility? Well, I guess that the tool is released as open source under the PHP License. So urces are available on the website. I don't really know much about licensing :), let's jus t say that it's free, and I don't want to get sued. Ok?