How to deploy a php app as a phar w/out having to browse to the phar

Question

I am interested in deploying my php (silex) based web as a phar. The app would be deployed on both macs and windows servers I don't control. But I can require php5.3.

if I access the phar ( http://server.com/myphar.phar ) directly in the browser it doesn't execute the php UNLESS you setup the web server to recognize phar files. At least that is what i think is happening.

How can I deploy my app as a Phar without requiring the users to access the phar directly in the browser?

Answer 1

the answer appears to be "yes".

I build everything Except index.php into the phar, and then simply do this in index.php

<?php
include('myPhar.phar');

This seems to work so far. It appears to function just as if there was no phar involved.