Basic Login is a basic PHP login script that can be downloaded used and modified under the general user public license provisions.  This is not a PHP login script for a government institution or fortune 500 company as it uses standard encryption and cookie based user identification that a determined hacker might exploit.  It is, however, perfect for a standard website that would benefit from a basic PHP to MySQL login script that is easy to deploy and uses standard methods of restricting access and granting permissions.

After writing countless PHP login scripts using various combinations of standard components tailored to the needs of the sites for which they were designed, I got wise and distilled the elements that I used most frequently into a basic application that can be easily uploaded and deployed on any project I was working on.  While there are no grand inventions happening here, Basic Login should do what you need it to do right out of the gate.  Features, functions and components are as follows:

PHP to MySQL structure
Password encryption
Email forgotten password hint
Email password change/ recreation
New user account creation with error handling
User permission level control
User login routing by permission on login
Central configuration file
Administrative user management report
First user gets admin permissions

Using Basic Login is easy:

  1. Download Basic Login files
  2. Unzip Basic Login files
  3. Upload Basic Login files to a directory of your choice
  4. Create users table in MySQL:
    Just run this query or cut and paste the following code into the SQL window of phpmyadmin or an equivalent MySQL control panel:

CREATE TABLE `users` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `username` varchar(50) NOT NULL default '',
  `password` varchar(150) NOT NULL default '',
  `password_hint` varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  `lastname` varchar(50) NOT NULL default '',
  `firstname` varchar(50) NOT NULL default '',
  `email` varchar(100) NOT NULL default '',
  `phone` varchar(50) NOT NULL default '',
  `address1` varchar(100) NOT NULL default '',
  `address2` varchar(100) NOT NULL default '',
  `city` varchar(80) NOT NULL default '',
  `state` varchar(20) NOT NULL default '',
  `zip` varchar(20) NOT NULL default '',
  `country` varchar(50) NOT NULL default '',
  `url` varchar(125) NOT NULL default '',
  `permissions` varchar(20) NOT NULL default '1',
  PRIMARY KEY  (`id`)
)        

  1. Open login_config.php and set the configuration values as desired
  2. Add your first account.  It will be configured as the administrator by default. 
  3. Put pages behind the security framework < ? include "auth_check_header"; ?> at the very top of any pages that are for members only. Make sure they are in the same directory as the Basic Login files.
  4. Happy coding!