php 8 / ioncube loader

dh

Member
I was looking around to see if I can upgrade from php 7.4 to 8 and checked ioncube loader, which we need for DaDaBIK.

The wording is a little unclear to me, and I hope I'm reading it wrong, but it seems that the developers are planning a release for php 8 that is not backward compatible with files encoded under earlier versions of ioncube (see https://forum.ioncube.com/viewtopic.php?t=4592&sid=7771b7c992597f7dc1c8b4a04c80132f).

If I'm reading this correctly, this may pose some challenges for you because some DaDaBIK users will be on php 8 quite soon, but others may hold back until end of life of 7.4, and we don't know what version you'll be using to produce the runtime files.

Will you have to distribute files to licensees in two different forms? Any guidance you can provide about how DaDaBIK users should plan to migrate to php 8 (or not) would be very helpful. Thank you!
 

eugenio

Administrator
Staff member
Hello,
I can't be sure about that because the new ioncube is not out yet but the post suggests that bundling is possible so we don't need to release two different versions (exactly as we ddin't need to release two different 5.x and 7.x versions).

Best,
 
Ioncube only works with php 7.4 or less. At the end of this year the support for this version of php will cease and php 8 should be used. There is no version of Ioncube for php 8 announced yet https://www.ioncube.com/
So: what's next?

I wander why DaDaBik uses Ioncube. It gives an additional layer of protection for the users, but is it also a way of protecting your software from copying?
If this is not the case why don't you give the clients the choice between a version with and without Ioncube.

Best, Ronny
 

dh

Member
It was pretty funny how Ioncube killed their support forum after you and other developers complained bitterly about their delayed and opaque timetable. Do you honestly think they are going to upgrade to dealing with php 8.x before the end of security updates for php 7.4 in November? If your backup solution is ready and will cost those bozos access to your money, then you should probably think about deploying it soon.
 

eugenio

Administrator
Staff member
I found the closing of the forum weird as well ... however I spoke with someone from ioncube and he told me the plan is to realease a version compatibile with 8.1 by the end of June. Of course I am not 100% this will happen, but I'll wait the summer.

Best,
 
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juergen_mueller

DaDaBIK Guru
Yes, that's for 8.1 but what about 8.0? This does not sound very trustworthy....and your provider has to enable the new version, too.
 

eugenio

Administrator
Staff member
They will not support 8.0, as they did for 7.0, they started the 7.x support with a more "stable" version, 7.1.
 

dh

Member
Some news:

Best,
Final release just announced. So what is the plan? Will you now be reencoding the encrypted files and issuing a new release of DaDaBIK? Or will the newly released ioncube loader be backward compatible with all existing files? btw, for those of us who use EasyApache, the new loader has not yet made it into their distribution. Based on past experience, that may take a week or two.
 
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eugenio

Administrator
Staff member
Hi,
if (and only if) all the tests will be OK (so far they are) next week V 11.7 will be out, this version will include support for PHP 8.1 and a huge improvement related to user permissions, sponsored by a customer.
Loaders are not backward compatible (at least they are not for PHP 8) and also DaDaBIK needed a few fix to avoid deprecation messages with PHP 8.1 so to use DaDaBIK with PHP 8 you need V 11.7.
Even if the new loader is not distributed for EasyApache, I think you can easily add the loader manually (typically you just need to copy the loader in the PHP extension dir and add a line to PHP.ini to load it)

Best,
 
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dh

Member
It was quicker than expected, V 11.7 is out :):cool:
So now I have a question about order of operations. Is this the correct order? (1) install on the server the new ioncube loader (2) set the server's php version to 8.1 (upgrading from 7.4) in cpanel (3) go through the DaDaBIK 11.7 upgrade process? It seems like any other order would result in at least one phase where nothing runs, but I'm just verifying that this makes sense.

btw, Ioncube has an install wizard for the loader that will probably work. As long as EasyApache is lagging their release, I'm inclined to use that wizard rather than guess what directory my webhost is using for a manual install.
 
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