Coming in Early Winter 2012 or Sooner!
What is phpDownloadProxy?
phpDownloadProxy is a download restriction PHP application that allows you to limit file downloads to your visitors by configuring certain settings within a GUI web interface. The reason why you would want to limit file downloads to your visitors is for both security and bandwidth control. Users downloading multiple files at a time or using a download manager can cause lag in bandwidth for your web server. Using phpDownloadProxy will help conserve that extra bandwidth in order to serve your visitors better. To put it simple, phpDownloadProxy is used to put a limit on file downloads in order to conserve bandwidth for your visitors.
UPDATE: December 6, 2011
I am going on another hiatus with the development of this project. The reason, and this is no excuse, is that it seems as though my wisdom teeth need to be pulled. I visited the ER here in Pittsburgh, PA at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital and they also believe it could be the wisdom teeth. The pressurized pain is so bad to where my productivity is very low. It is hard just typing this message to you guys it hurts so bad. I'm going to make a phone call to a local dental clinic tomorrow so that they can take a look at the problem. This project will be on hold until the initial problem is taking care of. I sincerely apologize for this dilemma and I hope it will be resolved soon.
UPDATE: November 19, 2011
This is taking longer than I thought. I'm trying to find as much time and motivation as I can to get this project flying but it's still in slow development. It's better to have a slow developed product than to release it as fast as possible and leave users with a bunch of bugs throughout the program. When I write my code, I put performance and stability in mind. If I know that the code isn't perfect, it will not be used. Hang in there, I know it's taking a long time, but it will certainly be worth it.
UPDATE: November 10, 2011
Big news! Smarty will not be implemented in phpDownloadProxy. The reason is because template engines require that the template code be reinterpreted as PHP code in order to function. Based on performance (this thing will perform!), it is my decision to drop support of it. The directory browsing will run much more faster and the file size of the actual program will be smaller. Last but not least, the majority of the code is being rewritten into object oriented code. The reason is simple. The functions will have all the access it needs to the outside variables, and those variables will be much more organized. The procedural way requires duplicated blocks of code, especially for HTTP headers, and what I call bad use of the global keyword. Every function practically needed access to those global variables. Object Oriented Programming will solve those problems. I'm hoping to complete the object oriented transition by Monday. More news in the coming days.
UPDATE: November 07, 2011
phpDownloadProxy will be an all-database PHP script. The reason is simple. The majority of its features will require database access. Another reason is that the code doesn't require checking for database access all the time, thus making the code easier to read. Last but not least, today I will be cleaning the code a little more and removing any unnecessary if statements. Development may be moving slower than I thought but I didn't expect my mom to get sick either. More news in the coming days.
UPDATE: October 26, 2011
FileLimit is now phpDownloadProxy. The reason for the name change is simple... it's a php download proxy that allows web server admins to conserve bandwidth. The features will remain the same of course.
UPDATE: October 23, 2011
After a hiatus of almost an entire month, I am proud to announce that development will resume beginning tomorrow. So far the database connectivity is coming along very well and I plan to start on the GUI as soon as the code is finalized. I apologize for such a long absence. I have been busy with a lot of family related issues and development has slowed to a halt during that time period. As a side project, I am deeply learning C++ in order to further my development as far as desktop applications. I plan to release actual software in the future and not just web applications. Stay tuned for more news.
UPDATE: September 29, 2011
I apologize for not posting this sooner but development has been put on hold for a few days until I can restore my system from a backup. Development will begin again early October after the system has been restored. In other news, I will be going for my Bachelors degree in Computer Science next year. This should give me an edge as far as job opportunities, and even if it doesn't, I at least have student benefits again. Stay tuned!
UPDATE: September 21, 2011
New feature announcement! I am proud to announce a new intelligent bandwidth control feature that will be available with phpDownloadProxy. This new feature will allow you to burst (increase) bandwidth if the download completes before other downloads. What makes this feature so unique, is that it doesn't just increase bandwidth every X seconds, it switches between total and per IP bandwidth every X seconds, if the client has the shortest download completion time. Hence the name, Smart Bandwidth Control. Server admins will thank me for this one.
UPDATE: September 20, 2011
I do apologize for the wait. This program is taking longer than I expected. The reason for this is the problems I ran into with other server software. For the record, IIS is a very lousy PHP server. Abyss and Apache is the best when it comes to supporting phpDownloadProxy. Abyss being the most recommended because of the ease of configuration and memory footprint. Please understand that I am working around the clock to get this thing ready for release. Today, I will be adding full bandwidth control and hopefully start on the GUI by tomorrow. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
UPDATE: September 17, 2011
Today, I plan to add Basic Authentication support to phpDownloadProxy. The reason for this decision is that Apache does not send the required environment variable to support message digest authentication by default. This is pretty unfortunate. Basic Authentication will be the default option. Thank Apache for this decision! In other news, the max downloads per day will be based on unique downloads. A file with the same URI can be downloaded as many times as the user wishes to download. This is not a feature but rather a limitation of HTTP. When a download prompt shows up, the file contents is actually being sent in the background. The user does not see this behavior but it is there. Because of the way HTTP behaves, only unique file downloads will be counted as max downloads per day. Stay tuned for more news!
Quick update: phpDownloadProxy now supports Basic and Message Digest authentication. Basic will be the default option for authentication.
UPDATE: September 14, 2011
Today was mainly a debugging day for me. I fixed several SQL problems associated with different DBMSs and rewrote the regular expression for the function that parses the netstat command to check for inactive connections. After I stuff my face with pizza and root beer, I will further improve the database functionality. Stay tuned for more! phpDownloadProxy user interface will be in development very soon.
UPDATE: September 13, 2011
After running into so many problems trying to write code that can detect if a client closed the connection, I finally found a solution to the problem. The solution was to use a function that runs netstat -n to see if the client is connected by way of the remote port. There will be a timeout setting that determines how often the client will be checked for an active connection. This solution is much more accurate than using PHP's so-called connection handling. The next problem to take care of is MySQL. For some reason it won't record any data during a file transfer. More news later.
UPDATE: September 12, 2011
You guys were probably wondering why I haven't posted any updates lately. The reason is because I have a lot going here in Pittsburgh, PA and development is going rather slow. I spent most of the day debugging the connection handling of phpDownloadProxy. Basically, if a user stops a large download, that download continued even when the user disconnected. I added some code to combat this issue and it seems to be working. It takes about 10 seconds for PHP to detect a connection close but it works. More news in the coming days.
Quick Update: It seems as though the connection handling problem still remains (at least for local files). I am working around the clock to fix this problem and I will let you know when it is solved.
UPDATE: September 5, 2011
The database code is going really well. I took a break for a few days since I have a lot going on. My mom needs a care giver (yet again) for her trip to Pittsburgh, PA so I will be heading up there on Wednesday around 11:30 AM EST. The good news is that development is going pretty smooth today. The main code for checking max downloads total, max downloads per IP, and max downloads per day per IP has been implemented. This code will all come together before the end of the day. Stay tuned!
UPDATE: August 31, 2011
Anti-Hacking has been implemented. You can choose which type of errors to monitor and the monitoring period as well as the banning duration. It automatically removes the client from the database if the client is out of the monitoring period or no longer banned. Today I will be working on the max downloads per day, total bandwidth sharing, and download monitoring. This will hopefully be the last day of programming for the main program. The GUI will be in development very soon. Stay tuned!
UPDATE: August 29, 2011
So far I cleaned the code, fixed a bug in the display mirrored files in the directory browsing, fixed a bug in the anti-leech protection, and added complete support for YouTube video files. That's right! Users will have the ability to link to YouTube videos and serve them from their own servers using phpDownloadProxy as if the file was locally on their server. This new YouTube power feature is so powerful that it might cause some controversy. Users should use this YouTube feature with caution. Stay tuned for more news on phpDownloadProxy!
UPDATE: August 27, 2011
I am proud to announce that the database portion of phpDownloadProxy is in development. After so many hours and days working on the main program, it is time to implement the database support. The GUI will follow after. By the way, as a last minute feature implementation, I added the ability to list the so-called mirrored files in the directory browsing. This will create the illusion that the leeched (excuse me, remote) files are from the server running phpDownloadProxy. With this new feature, you can link directly to remote files and display them from your custom templates. That is all the news I have for you now. Stay tuned!
UPDATE: August 26, 2011
What a day it has been! Making phpDownloadProxy sort with only one array was not an easy task to deal with in Smarty, but I managed to pull it off, so phpDownloadProxy now uses the same array to sort the contents. Last, but not least, I split the configuration into multiple files and added the ability to use Abyss Web Server's configured MIME Types. The benefits of splitting the configuration into multiple files was necessary because not all settings will be used at once. For example, only error pages will use error related settings, which can now be found in an errors configuration file. The same goes for global settings and mime types. Only the configuration that is needed will be used. This should save you a little bit of memory. There will be more news in the coming days.
UPDATE: August 24, 2011
Turns out there was a bug in Mac and Linux that caused the parent directory link to fail. This bug is now fixed and phpDownloadProxy can safely serve from Windows, Mac, and Linux. I plan to test Sun Solaris and other Unix flavors after the release. In theory, all operating systems that run PHP should work. By the way, I am currently trying to make the directory browsing faster by only using one array for the sorting. Currently, phpDownloadProxy requires several arrays to sort before turning into the original to be displayed. I am changing the code to where the original files array is sorted. This will make the browsing faster and save on memory. Stay tuned!
New features that are currently in development
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- Advanced Anti-Hacking
- Downloads per day
UPDATE: August 23, 2011
phpDownloadProxy now works with all operating systems, regardless of platform. If they support PHP, phpDownloadProxy will work. So far I tested it with Mac and Windows and it is working perfectly! The database portion is still under development. Stay tuned!
UPDATE: August 22, 2011
Another breakthrough! phpDownloadProxy now has the ability to link to files that are hotlink protected. Remote files that were once hotlink protected are no longer protected with phpDownloadProxy. Any file that is available online can be linked to now! The secret weapon to this feature is the forgery of the Referer header. phpDownloadProxy will send a fake Referer header containing the link to the remote file, tricking the remote server into thinking that the client is downloading the file directly from that server. This feature may open up a can of worms. More news tomorrow!
UPDATE: August 21, 2011
phpDownloadProxy's custom error pages feature is doing very well. Users can override the default error messages with their own. In addition, each standard error message is recorded in an xml configuration, so it is very easy to modify. Custom error pages supported will be of Abyss but users can add their own templates. There really is no limit!
UPDATE: August 20, 2011
As you all can tell, the directory browsing works. One other feature I am adding is global directory browsing settings. I'm currently making it to where an administrator can configure global hidden file name patterns to apply to all download restriction rules so that it avoids redundancy. After all, you wouldn't want to create the .* pattern for every rule to hide .htaccess files? Would you? These new global settings will make that pattern apply to every rule, regardless. Stay tuned for more news!
UPDATE: August 19, 2011
The directory browsing is coming along very well. The problem I am trying to fix at the moment is to handle those pesky file names with Latin characters. Yesterday, I spent a good amount of time debugging the code. A file with the name This&that could be read perfectly fine within the directory listing; however, a file with the name already encoded such as This%26that would not work. The problem is now fixed. By the way, phpDownloadProxy automatically detects URL rewriting functionality so there is nothing to configure to make it work. It just works. Stay tuned for more updates!
URLs supported by phpDownloadProxy
http://www.example.com/file.ext (yes, it is absolute, with URL Rewriting)
http://www.example.com/phpdlProxy/index.php?request=/file.ext (full path)
http://www.example.com/phpdlproxy/?request=/file.ext (shorter version)
UPDATE: August 18, 2011
While working with the directory browsing, I ran into more trouble, but fortunately I fixed it. The problem was that when trying to add extra queries like /?file=/&sort, phpDownloadProxy would see &sort as part of the file, so in order to fix this problem, I used the PHP explode() function and extracted the request without the ampersand portion. Keep in mind that you can still use an ampersand in your file names as long as they are URL encoded, which will automatically happen if you browse to such a file from the directory listing. I am currently working on the sorting capabilities with and without URL Rewrited requests. So far it is working as expected but I still have a few more templates to work with before working on the database functionality. phpDownloadProxy is really coming along well. Say tuned!
UPDATE: August 16, 2011
I'm still working on the directory browsing templates but so far it works as expected. The directory browsing hidden files feature will be the only feature to support patterns. The reason is because file mirroring would be difficult to understand for the user if they used patterns for the scope. This was difficult decision since I wanted to use patterns for the scope, but for simplicity, it is for the best. Stay tuned for more development news!
UPDATE: August 11, 2011
Yesterday was a pretty amazing day because I figured out how to use phpDownloadProxy's file mirroring feature to support download resuming. In addition, both local and remote files can use the smart bandwidth control feature. Users will also enjoy the fact that they can disable download resuming if they wish. Today, I will be working on the directory browsing feature, and then tomorrow the database, followed by the GUI and documentation next week. The estimated ETA for phpDownloadProxy is set for September of 2011.
To recap the development so far:
- File Mirroring (with download resuming and bandwidth control)
- Message Digest Authentication (users within groups supported)
- Advanced Anti-Leeching (strict or non strict)
Today, I will be working on
- Directory Browsing
UPDATE: August 10, 2011
I may have found a solution to support download resuming on remote files. The idea is to use a Range header to tell the remote server what part of the file to send. I am still looking into this and I hope it can be done. This will be part of a new function called fseekRemote(), which will simulate the illusion of an fseek() function and speed up the process. PHP will execute this function and the remote server (if it supports download resuming) will send back the part of the file needed. A clever, but simple way to handle remote download resuming. I already emailed Aprelium to see if this can be done but I think it can be.
A quick update: Using CURL I was able to make this work. Download Resuming on remote files will be supported. Cool huh?
UPDATE: August 09, 2011
Just so you all know, phpDownloadProxy will not allow you to resume downloads past 2 GB because of PHP's signed integer problem for fseek() and filesize(). However, I implemented a function that can read file sizes greater than 2 GB that will still allow visitors to download the files. It is not my fault that PHP is still using 32 bit numbers when it could be using 64 bit. This is pretty pathetic but at least the files will still be listed in the directory browsing and be able to be downloaded. Keep checking back for more developmental news.
Good news! I found an fseek function that can read past 2 GB and it only takes 2 seconds on my system to seek the position of the file to 3 GB. This will be implemented because we can't afford that small file size limitation. ;-)
Files greater than 2 GB will support download resuming.
UPDATE: August 08, 2011
So far I implemented advanced authentication (supports groups within groups, max log on attempts and more), file mirroring, and anti-leeching. The only features left to code is directory browsing and bandwidth control. After that, a GUI will be developed. I won't release an ETA for the beta until I know that it will be ready. Stay tuned!
A quick update: File Mirroring will have the ability to search alternative Locations if a redirect status code is found. I already tested this functionality and it works.
Features implemented so far
- File Mirroring
- Authentication
- Anti-leeching
Features pending
- Directory Browsing
- Bandwidth Control
UPDATE: August 06, 2011
I am proud to announce that the file mirroring feature, which allows users to link to files externally and send them locally from their server, has been implemented. Also, I tested the URL Rewriting functionality to create real file paths and it works as expected. I'm currently working on the access control feature. phpDownloadProxy is currently being developed to work with Message Digest Authentication, which is a lot more secure than Abyss's basic authentication. So far the implementation of this feature is working very well. More on the development of this project soon. Stay tuned!
UPDATE: August 04, 2011
There was a lot of debugging yesterday so I didn't get as far as I wanted to, but I did come up with ideas for the admin interface to make it more friendly. The Apply to scope option will apply to extensions only. The user will have the option to load these extensions from category, file type, or extension. In the end, this was a more professional approach. Also, the Hidden files for directory browsing will be exact file names only. No patterns or special rules will be used to hide files in the directory browsing. Keeping regular expressions down at a minimum will help the speed of the program. Be sure to check back every day for the latest on this beast of a script.
UPDATE: August 03, 2011
Yesterday I successfully created a blueprint of the configuration. Basically outputting all the configuration settings based on the file path given in the URL. It was a huge success, so in note of that, I will be coding the main program today. In addition, the directory browsing will support different templates. These templates will be written using the Smarty template engine for simplicity reasons. Users that wish to modify these templates, can create their own, and they will like the fact that the code is separated from presentation. phpDownloadProxy 1.0b1 will be available sooner than you think. Stay tuned!
UPDATE: August 02, 2011
Due to the nature of the File Mirroring feature, phpDownloadProxy will not allow direct file paths to be configured or paths with patterns. Instead, the user will enter the virtual path and optionally select from a list of options to apply the scope.
Example
Scope: /music/ (music folder must exist within the local folder)
Apply scope to [all|category|file type|extension]
file type: audio/mp3
All mp3 files within the folder and sub-folders of /music/ will use this scope. The default menu option for the "Apply scope to" will be "all". This means that all files will be included within the scope. Very simple indeed and less confusion. Mirrors to files on other servers will appear to be from within the scope but on different servers. The directory browsing will not show the mirrored files. If File Mirroring is enabled, the file mirrors must use actual folders that exist within the scope or just the file name itself. The user will be allowed to configure as many URLs as they want per mirror. If phpDownloadProxy sees that there is no file locally, it will look externally for that file within the mirrors list. Please note also that download resuming will be disabled for file mirrors. The reason is that phpDownloadProxy cannot support download resuming from external files.
Here's some examples on how this mirroring will work.
Mirror 1
Filename: mirrored_file.mp3
translates to /music/mirrored_file.mp3
and can point to any locations to the exact file on external servers.
Mirror 2
Filename: band/mirrored_file.mp3
translates to /music/band/mirrored_file.mp3
and can point to any locations to the exact file on external servers.
UPDATE: August 01, 2011
I know I said that the whole configuration file will be encrypted but I decided not to do that. Only sensitive information will use the AES Encryption feature, such as the database login information and file mirrors. The rest will be in plain sight in the case that someone opens the configuration file. The reason why I made this decision is because the encryption of the entire configuration file took a good amount of time to load into memory. This beast is being built for performance and I cannot afford any bottlenecks in this program. I am extensively testing this thing for performance, and believe me, this thing will perform at its peak.
UPDATE: July 28th, 2011
Configuration for phpDownloadProxy's settings is about 90% completed. Some amazing new features have been included. Smart Bandwidth Control is one of them and File Mirroring is another. This beast will dominate all other download restriction scripts! When the configuration is complete, all that is left is to develop the code, configure the framework to allow users to customize the directory browsing, and write the documentation. There is still a lot to do but I am confident that it will be completed very soon.
UPDATE: July 19th, 2011
I decided to go with the XML option for phpDownloadProxy's configuration file. One of the reasons is because XML is read directly into memory, thus decreasing the time it takes to find information within the configuration file. I was going to use SQLite, but it reads directly from the hard drive, which may cause performance issues with many users. In the end, XML was the best decision for this project. By the way, the whole configuration file will be encrypted to keep eavesdroppers from looking at your settings. More news in the coming days.
NOTE: phpDownloadProxy will not require a database server to operate. The database server will be used only to provide real-time connection updates.
checkout www.phpdownloadproxy.com
UPDATE: July 16th, 2011
Multi-database access was a success. The design phase starts now.
UPDATE: July 15th, 2011
Currently testing PHP Data Objects for multi-database access
The following DBMSs are being tested:
- SQLite
- MySQL
- PostgreSQL
- Microsoft SQL
UPDATE: July 13th, 2011
phpDownloadProxy development will begin this month
As promised, the development of phpDownloadProxy will begin very soon. The estimated time of arrival for the first beta would probably be available at the end of August. Changes in this new version will provide many new features. More news on this in the coming days.
New Features for phpDownloadProxy v1.x
- Multi-database access (MySQL, PostreSQL, and Microsoft SQL)
- Smart Bandwidth Control: controls the bandwidth speed intelligently of file downloads
- Custom MIME Types: add your own file extension types
- URL Rewriting support
and much more!