Custom PHP Extensions

I have a need to add functionality to my PHP scripts to handle secure data playing with passwords, etc) that I would like to "hide" from any would-be prowlers. It seems to me that the most secure solution for this is to add extension functions to PHP and compile it into the actual PHP interpreter. This has led me to a search across the web for documentation on the subject. I have found three sources, but one is in French which does not help me too much. :-) One, of course, is the on-line documentation of the PHP manual itself, but it really gave little details on how to set up the compilation of your extensions so that they would be included in PHP. I am a decent C programmer, but I am certainly no guru. I have a lot to learn. Therefore, I need a fair amount of help here, and from what I can see from scattered posts, I am not the only one. The other site that I saw was at http://www.uk.research.att.com/~qsf/phpmodule/ , but the author himself admitted that he wasn't sure that his solution is optimal. Does any "correct" solution exist that is well documented? If not, is there someone on this message board who could assist the rest of us with a discussion on the how's and why's of adding custom extensions. I realize that I may be opening a can of worms here, but as I said, I do not believe myself to be alone in wanting to find a solution to this problem. Matthew Aznoe Fuzz Technologies maznoe@fuzztech.com (406) 587-1100 x217