Ioncube has recently ceased public support for those who do not pay. They have also removed all forums as of April, which seemed like an April Fool's joke to lure in customers. Even a year and a half later, there is still no support for PHP 8, which is now available.
There is news of a new major update coming in November which is just 11 characters long.
I wonder if anyone has heard anything about the current status of PHP 8 and Ioncube? The situation seems dire, like Ioncube is drowning in the water.
There may be other projects beyond WHMCS that utilize Ioncube for encryption. Although, WHMCS appears to be a significant player in the web hosting industry.
The responsibility for this issue doesn't solely rest on WHMCS; they made the mistake of relying on Ioncube. However, it was reasonable to assume that Ioncube would eventually release an encoder for PHP 8. Sadly, ample time has passed. It's high time for WHMCS to explore alternative encoders.
Any project that continues to use Ioncube will need to examine other options as well.
If Ioncube continues to lose money or is eventually forced to close operations, they may reflect and realize they should have prioritized quicker releases for these PHP updates.
Using my encoder version 10.2, I encoded a file for php 7.1 (also attempted for 7.2), but it doesn't function for 8.1.
It may be possible that encoding with a newer version of the encoder, specifically version 11, could solve this issue. However, I cannot verify since I currently lack access to it. Perhaps someone else can try it out.
It seems like acquiring a new license is necessary, which costs $299. Though it's possible to upgrade for roughly $230, or wait for Black Friday when there are typically considerable discounts up to 50% off. At the moment, there isn't an urgent need since OpenCart only started supporting PHP 8 with version 4, and I haven't seen any functioning sites yet - nor have clients reported any issues.
I also noticed another strange occurrence. When I had php 8.0, I was incapable of installing the loader. The wizard stated that it's not compatible with the version. Interestingly, the loader supports solely php 7.4 along with 8.1. It appears that there's no support for php 8.0, which is unfortunate since some clients may be utilizing the version, unable to install the loader.
Changes in support and updates can happen with various software packages, and it's not uncommon for developers to prioritize certain updates over others based on their resources and customer needs. If you're specifically interested in the current status of PHP 8 and Ioncube, it might be helpful to reach out to Ioncube directly or explore online forums and developer communities for the latest information.
PHP 8 is a major release of the PHP programming language that was released on November 26, 2020. It introduced several new features and improvements to the language, including improved performance, enhanced type system, syntax enhancements, and new features such as attributes and named arguments.
As for Ioncube, it is a popular commercial software encryption and obfuscation solution for PHP applications. Its primary purpose is to protect PHP code from being easily reverse-engineered or tampered with. Ioncube encodes PHP files into a proprietary format, which can only be decoded and executed by the Ioncube loader extension installed on the server.
Regarding the compatibility between PHP 8 and Ioncube, it's important to check with Ioncube directly for the latest information. While Ioncube has traditionally provided support for new PHP versions in their loader, there might be some lag or delays before full compatibility is achieved. It's advisable to reach out to Ioncube or consult their dоcumentation to get specific details on PHP 8 support and any updates they may have released.