Source code obfuscation - let's discuss

Source code obfuscation - let's discuss

There are many solutions available for protecting your source code, such as;
http://www.ioncube.com/
http://www.intricks.com/projects/phpcodebuster/
http://www.sourceguardian.com/
http://pobs.mywalhalla.net/
...to name a few.

Do you use source code obfuscation in your work?

Which ones, and have you encountered many compatibility issues in the client platforms, or other "cons"?

Do you think source code obfuscation is just a bad idea all together, and why if so?

Share your opinions and experiences.

Don't forget Zend. It's good for what it is...well, if you have the money.

I don't use any kind of obfuscation though, no. I'll go out on a ledge and say only large companies with very exclusive products would have any tangible benefits from doing so.

Encrypting source code is quite secure but even though there are lots of technique by which anyone can decrypte such code. I dont think any such method if full proof

Yeah, I read that all of them can eventually be hacked so you can never be 100% sure your code is safe.

Encrypting is not secure than what should one do to make the source code as it can b very costly at times.

I have to agree that I'm not that worried about it - most of my php code is basic and anybody could do it anyway. Maybe I'll be more interested in this angle of things if I get into doing sites for big companies, who knows.

Encrypting PHP code is only useful if you're going to sell it. If you only write it to use on your own site, then there's no point in encrypting it as people can't look at it anyway.

I'd have to say that I can see no reason to attempt to obfuscate any of my code. I can put forth the above reasons, ie there's nothing really special about my code anyway. However, I have a stronger reason for that: Servlets.

If I have high-security code I need to write for working with in a networked environment, I'm more likely to do it as a Java Servlet. Since all Java code has to be compiled to be useful, there's no need for me to release my source code to the end user.