Determine the framework used from a website source dump

Question

I don't know if this is the right place to ask a question like this, but it is programming related, so here goes.

I was given a zip file containing the entire source data for a website, including the scripts used to create the database backing it. I know that the site was built using a PHP-based framework, but not which one. I was asked to gain some basic familiarity with the structure of the site, and be able to make at least small changes to the UI.

The problem I have is that I don't recognize the framework used, although I'm pretty sure that the site was built using one. I know it isn't Zend, but that's about it.

The question is, what would you look for from the source in order to determine the technology used to create a site, given the product?

Answer 1

You can do the following to attempt to determine the framework:

1) Check the folder structure against the more known frameworks

2) Check for hints in the HTTP response headers, comments in source files, HTML output, license and so on.

Sometimes the site may not be built with a known framework, though it may look like it is using one.