A phar (PHP archive) file. The phar format is a custom archive format from the PHP ecosystem that is used to package a complete PHP library or application into a single self-contained archive. All phar archives start with an executable PHP stub, which can be used to allow executing or including phar files as if they were regular PHP scripts. PHP 5.3 and later include the phar extension, which adds native support for reading and manipulating phar files.
The phar format was originally developed as part of the PEAR library PHP_Archive, first released in 2005. Later, a native PHP extension named "phar" was developed, which was first released on PECL in 2007, and is included with PHP 5.3 and later. The phar extension has effectively superseded the PHP_Archive library, which has not been updated since 2010. The phar extension is also no longer released independently on PECL; it is now developed and released as part of PHP itself.
Because of current limitations in Kaitai Struct (seekaitai-io/kaitai_struct#158 and kaitai-io/kaitai_struct#538), the executable PHP stub that precedes the rest of the archive is not handled by this spec. Before parsing a phar using this spec, the stub must be removed manually.
A phar's stub is terminated by the special token __HALT_COMPILER();
(which may be followed by at most one space, the PHP tag end ?>,
and an optional line terminator). The stub termination sequence is
immediately followed by the remaining parts of the phar format,
as described in this spec.
The phar stub usually contains code that loads the phar and runs
a contained PHP file, but this is not required. A minimal valid phar stub
is <?php __HALT_COMPILER(); - such a stub makes it impossible to execute
the phar directly, but still allows loading or manipulating it using the
phar extension.
Note: The phar format does not specify any encoding for text fields (stub, alias name, and all file names), so these fields may contain arbitrary binary data. The actual text encoding used in a specific phar file usually depends on the application that created the phar, and on the standard encoding of the system on which the phar was created.
This page hosts a formal specification of PHP phar archive (without stub) using Kaitai Struct. This specification can be automatically translated into a variety of programming languages to get a parsing library.
<?php
// This is a generated file! Please edit source .ksy file and use kaitai-struct-compiler to rebuild
/**
* A phar (PHP archive) file. The phar format is a custom archive format
* from the PHP ecosystem that is used to package a complete PHP library
* or application into a single self-contained archive.
* All phar archives start with an executable PHP stub, which can be used to
* allow executing or including phar files as if they were regular PHP scripts.
* PHP 5.3 and later include the phar extension, which adds native support for
* reading and manipulating phar files.
*
* The phar format was originally developed as part of the PEAR library
* PHP_Archive, first released in 2005. Later, a native PHP extension
* named "phar" was developed, which was first released on PECL in 2007,
* and is included with PHP 5.3 and later. The phar extension has effectively
* superseded the PHP_Archive library, which has not been updated since 2010.
* The phar extension is also no longer released independently on PECL;
* it is now developed and released as part of PHP itself.
*
* Because of current limitations in Kaitai Struct
* (seekaitai-io/kaitai_struct#158 and kaitai-io/kaitai_struct#538),
* the executable PHP stub that precedes the rest of the archive is not handled
* by this spec. Before parsing a phar using this spec, the stub must be
* removed manually.
*
* A phar's stub is terminated by the special token `__HALT_COMPILER();`
* (which may be followed by at most one space, the PHP tag end `?>`,
* and an optional line terminator). The stub termination sequence is
* immediately followed by the remaining parts of the phar format,
* as described in this spec.
*
* The phar stub usually contains code that loads the phar and runs
* a contained PHP file, but this is not required. A minimal valid phar stub
* is `<?php __HALT_COMPILER();` - such a stub makes it impossible to execute
* the phar directly, but still allows loading or manipulating it using the
* phar extension.
*
* Note: The phar format does not specify any encoding for text fields
* (stub, alias name, and all file names), so these fields may contain arbitrary
* binary data. The actual text encoding used in a specific phar file usually
* depends on the application that created the phar, and on the
* standard encoding of the system on which the phar was created.
*/
namespace {
class PharWithoutStub extends \Kaitai\Struct\Struct {
public function __construct(\Kaitai\Struct\Stream $_io, \Kaitai\Struct\Struct $_parent = null, \PharWithoutStub $_root = null) {
parent::__construct($_io, $_parent, $_root);
$this->_read();
}
private function _read() {
$this->_m_manifest = new \PharWithoutStub\Manifest($this->_io, $this, $this->_root);
$this->_m_files = [];
$n = $this->manifest()->numFiles();
for ($i = 0; $i < $n; $i++) {
$this->_m_files[] = $this->_io->readBytes($this->manifest()->fileEntries()[$i]->lenDataCompressed());
}
if ($this->manifest()->flags()->hasSignature()) {
$this->_m__raw_signature = $this->_io->readBytesFull();
$_io__raw_signature = new \Kaitai\Struct\Stream($this->_m__raw_signature);
$this->_m_signature = new \PharWithoutStub\Signature($_io__raw_signature, $this, $this->_root);
}
}
protected $_m_manifest;
protected $_m_files;
protected $_m_signature;
protected $_m__raw_signature;
/**
* The archive's manifest, containing general metadata about the archive
* and its files.
*/
public function manifest() { return $this->_m_manifest; }
/**
* The contents of each file in the archive (possibly compressed,
* as indicated by the file's flags in the manifest). The files are stored
* in the same order as they appear in the manifest.
*/
public function files() { return $this->_m_files; }
/**
* The archive's signature - a digest of all archive data before
* the signature itself.
*
* Note: Almost all of the available "signature" types are actually hashes,
* not signatures, and cannot be used to verify that the archive has not
* been tampered with. Only the OpenSSL signature type is a true
* cryptographic signature.
*/
public function signature() { return $this->_m_signature; }
public function _raw_signature() { return $this->_m__raw_signature; }
}
}
namespace PharWithoutStub {
class SerializedValue extends \Kaitai\Struct\Struct {
public function __construct(\Kaitai\Struct\Stream $_io, \Kaitai\Struct\Struct $_parent = null, \PharWithoutStub $_root = null) {
parent::__construct($_io, $_parent, $_root);
$this->_read();
}
private function _read() {
$this->_m_raw = $this->_io->readBytesFull();
}
protected $_m_parsed;
/**
* The serialized value, parsed as a structure.
*/
public function parsed() {
if ($this->_m_parsed !== null)
return $this->_m_parsed;
$_pos = $this->_io->pos();
$this->_io->seek(0);
$this->_m_parsed = new \PhpSerializedValue($this->_io);
$this->_io->seek($_pos);
return $this->_m_parsed;
}
protected $_m_raw;
/**
* The serialized value, as a raw byte array.
*/
public function raw() { return $this->_m_raw; }
}
}
namespace PharWithoutStub {
class Signature extends \Kaitai\Struct\Struct {
public function __construct(\Kaitai\Struct\Stream $_io, \PharWithoutStub $_parent = null, \PharWithoutStub $_root = null) {
parent::__construct($_io, $_parent, $_root);
$this->_read();
}
private function _read() {
$this->_m_data = $this->_io->readBytes((($this->_io()->size() - $this->_io()->pos()) - 8));
$this->_m_type = $this->_io->readU4le();
$this->_m_magic = $this->_io->readBytes(4);
if (!($this->magic() == "\x47\x42\x4D\x42")) {
throw new \Kaitai\Struct\Error\ValidationNotEqualError("\x47\x42\x4D\x42", $this->magic(), $this->_io(), "/types/signature/seq/2");
}
}
protected $_m_data;
protected $_m_type;
protected $_m_magic;
/**
* The signature data. The size and contents depend on the
* signature type.
*/
public function data() { return $this->_m_data; }
/**
* The signature type.
*/
public function type() { return $this->_m_type; }
public function magic() { return $this->_m_magic; }
}
}
namespace PharWithoutStub {
class FileFlags extends \Kaitai\Struct\Struct {
public function __construct(\Kaitai\Struct\Stream $_io, \PharWithoutStub\FileEntry $_parent = null, \PharWithoutStub $_root = null) {
parent::__construct($_io, $_parent, $_root);
$this->_read();
}
private function _read() {
$this->_m_value = $this->_io->readU4le();
}
protected $_m_permissions;
/**
* The file's permission bits.
*/
public function permissions() {
if ($this->_m_permissions !== null)
return $this->_m_permissions;
$this->_m_permissions = ($this->value() & 511);
return $this->_m_permissions;
}
protected $_m_zlibCompressed;
/**
* Whether this file's data is stored using zlib compression.
*/
public function zlibCompressed() {
if ($this->_m_zlibCompressed !== null)
return $this->_m_zlibCompressed;
$this->_m_zlibCompressed = ($this->value() & 4096) != 0;
return $this->_m_zlibCompressed;
}
protected $_m_bzip2Compressed;
/**
* Whether this file's data is stored using bzip2 compression.
*/
public function bzip2Compressed() {
if ($this->_m_bzip2Compressed !== null)
return $this->_m_bzip2Compressed;
$this->_m_bzip2Compressed = ($this->value() & 8192) != 0;
return $this->_m_bzip2Compressed;
}
protected $_m_value;
/**
* The unparsed flag bits.
*/
public function value() { return $this->_m_value; }
}
}
/**
* A phar API version number. This version number is meant to indicate
* which features are used in a specific phar, so that tools reading
* the phar can easily check that they support all necessary features.
*
* The following API versions exist so far:
*
* * 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.7.1: The first official API versions. At this point,
* the phar format was only used by the PHP_Archive library, and the
* API version numbers were identical to the PHP_Archive versions that
* supported them. Development of the native phar extension started around
* API version 0.7. These API versions could only be queried using the
* `PHP_Archive::APIversion()` method, but were not stored physically
* in archives. These API versions are not supported by this spec.
* * 0.8.0: Used by PHP_Archive 0.8.0 (released 2006-07-18) and
* later development versions of the phar extension. This is the first
* version number to be physically stored in archives. This API version
* is not supported by this spec.
* * 0.9.0: Used by later development/early beta versions of the
* phar extension. Also temporarily used by PHP_Archive 0.9.0
* (released 2006-12-15), but reverted back to API version 0.8.0 in
* PHP_Archive 0.9.1 (released 2007-01-05).
* * 1.0.0: Supported since PHP_Archive 0.10.0 (released 2007-05-29)
* and phar extension 1.0.0 (released 2007-03-28). This is the first
* stable, forwards-compatible and documented version of the format.
* * 1.1.0: Supported since PHP_Archive 0.12.0 (released 2015-07-06)
* and phar extension 1.1.0 (released 2007-04-12). Adds SHA-256 and
* SHA-512 signature types.
* * 1.1.1: Supported since phar extension 2.0.0 (released 2009-07-29 and
* included with PHP 5.3 and later). (PHP_Archive 0.12.0 also supports
* all features from API verison 1.1.1, but it reports API version 1.1.0.)
* Adds the OpenSSL signature type and support for storing
* empty directories.
*/
namespace PharWithoutStub {
class ApiVersion extends \Kaitai\Struct\Struct {
public function __construct(\Kaitai\Struct\Stream $_io, \PharWithoutStub\Manifest $_parent = null, \PharWithoutStub $_root = null) {
parent::__construct($_io, $_parent, $_root);
$this->_read();
}
private function _read() {
$this->_m_release = $this->_io->readBitsIntBe(4);
$this->_m_major = $this->_io->readBitsIntBe(4);
$this->_m_minor = $this->_io->readBitsIntBe(4);
$this->_m_unused = $this->_io->readBitsIntBe(4);
}
protected $_m_release;
protected $_m_major;
protected $_m_minor;
protected $_m_unused;
public function release() { return $this->_m_release; }
public function major() { return $this->_m_major; }
public function minor() { return $this->_m_minor; }
public function unused() { return $this->_m_unused; }
}
}
namespace PharWithoutStub {
class GlobalFlags extends \Kaitai\Struct\Struct {
public function __construct(\Kaitai\Struct\Stream $_io, \PharWithoutStub\Manifest $_parent = null, \PharWithoutStub $_root = null) {
parent::__construct($_io, $_parent, $_root);
$this->_read();
}
private function _read() {
$this->_m_value = $this->_io->readU4le();
}
protected $_m_anyZlibCompressed;
/**
* Whether any of the files in this phar are stored using
* zlib compression.
*/
public function anyZlibCompressed() {
if ($this->_m_anyZlibCompressed !== null)
return $this->_m_anyZlibCompressed;
$this->_m_anyZlibCompressed = ($this->value() & 4096) != 0;
return $this->_m_anyZlibCompressed;
}
protected $_m_anyBzip2Compressed;
/**
* Whether any of the files in this phar are stored using
* bzip2 compression.
*/
public function anyBzip2Compressed() {
if ($this->_m_anyBzip2Compressed !== null)
return $this->_m_anyBzip2Compressed;
$this->_m_anyBzip2Compressed = ($this->value() & 8192) != 0;
return $this->_m_anyBzip2Compressed;
}
protected $_m_hasSignature;
/**
* Whether this phar contains a signature.
*/
public function hasSignature() {
if ($this->_m_hasSignature !== null)
return $this->_m_hasSignature;
$this->_m_hasSignature = ($this->value() & 65536) != 0;
return $this->_m_hasSignature;
}
protected $_m_value;
/**
* The unparsed flag bits.
*/
public function value() { return $this->_m_value; }
}
}
namespace PharWithoutStub {
class Manifest extends \Kaitai\Struct\Struct {
public function __construct(\Kaitai\Struct\Stream $_io, \PharWithoutStub $_parent = null, \PharWithoutStub $_root = null) {
parent::__construct($_io, $_parent, $_root);
$this->_read();
}
private function _read() {
$this->_m_lenManifest = $this->_io->readU4le();
$this->_m_numFiles = $this->_io->readU4le();
$this->_m_apiVersion = new \PharWithoutStub\ApiVersion($this->_io, $this, $this->_root);
$this->_m_flags = new \PharWithoutStub\GlobalFlags($this->_io, $this, $this->_root);
$this->_m_lenAlias = $this->_io->readU4le();
$this->_m_alias = $this->_io->readBytes($this->lenAlias());
$this->_m_lenMetadata = $this->_io->readU4le();
if ($this->lenMetadata() != 0) {
$this->_m__raw_metadata = $this->_io->readBytes($this->lenMetadata());
$_io__raw_metadata = new \Kaitai\Struct\Stream($this->_m__raw_metadata);
$this->_m_metadata = new \PharWithoutStub\SerializedValue($_io__raw_metadata, $this, $this->_root);
}
$this->_m_fileEntries = [];
$n = $this->numFiles();
for ($i = 0; $i < $n; $i++) {
$this->_m_fileEntries[] = new \PharWithoutStub\FileEntry($this->_io, $this, $this->_root);
}
}
protected $_m_lenManifest;
protected $_m_numFiles;
protected $_m_apiVersion;
protected $_m_flags;
protected $_m_lenAlias;
protected $_m_alias;
protected $_m_lenMetadata;
protected $_m_metadata;
protected $_m_fileEntries;
protected $_m__raw_metadata;
/**
* The length of the manifest, in bytes.
*
* Note: The phar extension does not allow reading manifests
* larger than 100 MiB.
*/
public function lenManifest() { return $this->_m_lenManifest; }
/**
* The number of files in this phar.
*/
public function numFiles() { return $this->_m_numFiles; }
/**
* The API version used by this phar manifest.
*/
public function apiVersion() { return $this->_m_apiVersion; }
/**
* Global flags for this phar.
*/
public function flags() { return $this->_m_flags; }
/**
* The length of the alias, in bytes.
*/
public function lenAlias() { return $this->_m_lenAlias; }
/**
* The phar's alias, i. e. the name under which it is loaded into PHP.
*/
public function alias() { return $this->_m_alias; }
/**
* The size of the metadata, in bytes, or 0 if there is none.
*/
public function lenMetadata() { return $this->_m_lenMetadata; }
/**
* Metadata for this phar, in the format used by PHP's
* `serialize` function. The meaning of the serialized data is not
* specified further, it may be used to store arbitrary custom data
* about the archive.
*/
public function metadata() { return $this->_m_metadata; }
/**
* Manifest entries for the files contained in this phar.
*/
public function fileEntries() { return $this->_m_fileEntries; }
public function _raw_metadata() { return $this->_m__raw_metadata; }
}
}
namespace PharWithoutStub {
class FileEntry extends \Kaitai\Struct\Struct {
public function __construct(\Kaitai\Struct\Stream $_io, \PharWithoutStub\Manifest $_parent = null, \PharWithoutStub $_root = null) {
parent::__construct($_io, $_parent, $_root);
$this->_read();
}
private function _read() {
$this->_m_lenFilename = $this->_io->readU4le();
$this->_m_filename = $this->_io->readBytes($this->lenFilename());
$this->_m_lenDataUncompressed = $this->_io->readU4le();
$this->_m_timestamp = $this->_io->readU4le();
$this->_m_lenDataCompressed = $this->_io->readU4le();
$this->_m_crc32 = $this->_io->readU4le();
$this->_m_flags = new \PharWithoutStub\FileFlags($this->_io, $this, $this->_root);
$this->_m_lenMetadata = $this->_io->readU4le();
if ($this->lenMetadata() != 0) {
$this->_m__raw_metadata = $this->_io->readBytes($this->lenMetadata());
$_io__raw_metadata = new \Kaitai\Struct\Stream($this->_m__raw_metadata);
$this->_m_metadata = new \PharWithoutStub\SerializedValue($_io__raw_metadata, $this, $this->_root);
}
}
protected $_m_lenFilename;
protected $_m_filename;
protected $_m_lenDataUncompressed;
protected $_m_timestamp;
protected $_m_lenDataCompressed;
protected $_m_crc32;
protected $_m_flags;
protected $_m_lenMetadata;
protected $_m_metadata;
protected $_m__raw_metadata;
/**
* The length of the file name, in bytes.
*/
public function lenFilename() { return $this->_m_lenFilename; }
/**
* The name of this file. If the name ends with a slash, this entry
* represents a directory, otherwise a regular file. Directory entries
* are supported since phar API version 1.1.1.
* (Explicit directory entries are only needed for empty directories.
* Non-empty directories are implied by the files located inside them.)
*/
public function filename() { return $this->_m_filename; }
/**
* The length of the file's data when uncompressed, in bytes.
*/
public function lenDataUncompressed() { return $this->_m_lenDataUncompressed; }
/**
* The time at which the file was added or last updated, as a
* Unix timestamp.
*/
public function timestamp() { return $this->_m_timestamp; }
/**
* The length of the file's data when compressed, in bytes.
*/
public function lenDataCompressed() { return $this->_m_lenDataCompressed; }
/**
* The CRC32 checksum of the file's uncompressed data.
*/
public function crc32() { return $this->_m_crc32; }
/**
* Flags for this file.
*/
public function flags() { return $this->_m_flags; }
/**
* The length of the metadata, in bytes, or 0 if there is none.
*/
public function lenMetadata() { return $this->_m_lenMetadata; }
/**
* Metadata for this file, in the format used by PHP's
* `serialize` function. The meaning of the serialized data is not
* specified further, it may be used to store arbitrary custom data
* about the file.
*/
public function metadata() { return $this->_m_metadata; }
public function _raw_metadata() { return $this->_m__raw_metadata; }
}
}
namespace PharWithoutStub {
class SignatureType {
/**
* Indicates an MD5 hash.
*/
const MD5 = 1;
/**
* Indicates a SHA-1 hash.
*/
const SHA1 = 2;
/**
* Indicates a SHA-256 hash. Available since API version 1.1.0,
* PHP_Archive 0.12.0 and phar extension 1.1.0.
*/
const SHA256 = 4;
/**
* Indicates a SHA-512 hash. Available since API version 1.1.0,
* PHP_Archive 0.12.0 and phar extension 1.1.0.
*/
const SHA512 = 8;
/**
* Indicates an OpenSSL signature. Available since API version 1.1.1,
* PHP_Archive 0.12.0 (even though it claims to only support
* API version 1.1.0) and phar extension 1.3.0. This type is not
* documented in the phar extension's documentation of the phar format.
*
* Note: In older versions of the phar extension, this value was used
* for an undocumented and unimplemented "PGP" signature type
* (`PHAR_SIG_PGP`).
*/
const OPENSSL = 16;
}
}