Ioncube is a popular solution for encoding /encrypting PHP script before distribution. Most web servers are configured by default to handle Ioncube encoded files, however with each advancement in the Ioncube encoder, the Ioncube Loader (installed on your server) needs to be updated to support the latest version of encoded files.
Fortunately, this is pretty simple in the Linux environment:
- Download the Latest Ioncube Loader (we're using ioncube_loaders_lin_x86.tar.gz in this example):
http://www.ioncube.com/loaders.php - Uncompress & Upload the appropriate .so files to your server via FTP or familiar method.
Files are labeled by PHP Version, ie: ioncube_loader_lin_5.2.so where 5.2 is the PHP version.
- Locate your existing IonCube files. Typically:
/usr/local/IonCube/
- Rename / Backup your existing IonCube Files
- Copy the new files into the IonCube folder
- Restart Apache. Typically:
/etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd restart
