php most memory efficient way to return files
- by bumperbox
so i have a bunch of files, some can be up to 30-40mb
and i want to use php to handle security of the files, so i can control who has access to them
that means i have a script sort of like this rough example
$has_permission = check_database_for_permission($user, filename);
if ($has_permission) {
header('Content-Type: image/jpeg');
readfile ($filename);
exit;
} else {
// return 401 error
}
i would hate for every request to load the full file into memory, as it would soon chew up all the memory on my server with a few simultaneous requests
so a couple of questions
is readfile the most memory efficient way of doing this?
is there some better method of achieving the same outcome, that i am overlooking?
server: apache/php5
thanks