Can PHP7 opcached files be distributed without source code?
<p>PHP7 offers a bytecode caching mechanism called <a href="http://php.net/manual/book.opcache.php" rel="noreferrer">opcache</a>. I'd like to know if there is any way to distribute and run the "opcached" version of a PHP script (.bin file extension) without distributing its source code. (I enabled the <code>opcache.file_cache</code> directive in <code>php.ini</code> to obtain the .bin file.)</p>

<p>I assume that when executing a script, PHP7 will check the opcache directory for a .bin file with matching name, timestamp, and maybe even compare a checksum or hash value. If all things match, PHP7 will execute the .bin file instead of parse the .php file. Maybe it is possible to 'trick' PHP into executing the .bin file even when the corresponding .php script is not present?</p>