same domain, different server php include

Question

imagine that I have two services with the same domain but different hostnames and on different physical computers (for example maps.google.com and mail.google.com). I want to include some php code from one server to the other... how can I do this? (I see a lot of things about how to include across different domains on the same server but this isn't what I want.)

EDIT: I control both of the services that I want to include between but they are on different physical servers under the same domain. It has been suggested that I use a repository and then have each server clone that, so my question is now will I be able to automatically have every server update to the most recent version when changes are made to that repository? I am trying to make a code base of basic functions across the different services.

Answer 1

I suggest mounting the remote host's directory (examples: NFS (Network File System) for Linux, Windows shares for Windows).

Including (= executing) code over HTTP isn't a good idea since there's no authentication involved.

Answer 2

If you want to include a php file from a remote HTTP server, you will face two issues:

• the remote server will interpret its php file, so you will only get a HTML (or any other generated format) stream. It can be bypassed, but you have to access the remote server settings.
• it's absolutely NOT safe. If someone changes the remote script, he can do very bad things (like removing files, or even executing system commands)

However, if the remote server let you access the script in its plain text version, you can just include it.

Answer 3

You can't, at least not without exposing your code to the public. If it were possible to read PHP source from any server, that would be a terrible security hole.

If your code definitely isn't sensitive, change its extension so that it's non-executable (say, a .inc file) and include that instead.