__________________________________________________________________ Installing PHP __________________________________________________________________ * General Installation Considerations * Installation on Unix systems + Apache 1.3.x on Unix systems + Apache 2.x on Unix systems + Lighttpd 1.4 on Unix systems + Sun, iPlanet and Netscape servers on Sun Solaris + CGI and command line setups + HP-UX specific installation notes + OpenBSD installation notes + Solaris specific installation tips + Debian GNU/Linux installation notes * Installation on Mac OS X + Using Packages + Using the bundled PHP + Compiling PHP on Mac OS X * Installation of PECL extensions + Introduction to PECL Installations + Downloading PECL extensions + Installing a PHP extension on Windows + Compiling shared PECL extensions with the pecl command + Compiling shared PECL extensions with phpize + php-config + Compiling PECL extensions statically into PHP * Problems? + Read the FAQ + Other problems + Bug reports * Runtime Configuration + The configuration file + .user.ini files + Where a configuration setting may be set + How to change configuration settings * Installation __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Preface These installation instructions were generated from the HTML version of the PHP Manual so formatting and linking have been altered. See the online and updated version at: http://php.net/install.unix __________________________________________________________________ General Installation Considerations Before starting the installation, first you need to know what do you want to use PHP for. There are three main fields you can use PHP, as described in the What can PHP do? section: * Websites and web applications (server-side scripting) * Command line scripting * Desktop (GUI) applications For the first and most common form, you need three things: PHP itself, a web server and a web browser. You probably already have a web browser, and depending on your operating system setup, you may also have a web server (e.g. Apache on Linux and MacOS X; IIS on Windows). You may also rent webspace at a company. This way, you don't need to set up anything on your own, only write your PHP scripts, upload it to the server you rent, and see the results in your browser. In case of setting up the server and PHP on your own, you have two choices for the method of connecting PHP to the server. For many servers PHP has a direct module interface (also called SAPI). These servers include Apache, Microsoft Internet Information Server, Netscape and iPlanet servers. Many other servers have support for ISAPI, the Microsoft module interface (OmniHTTPd for example). If PHP has no module support for your web server, you can always use it as a CGI or FastCGI processor. This means you set up your server to use the CGI executable of PHP to process all PHP file requests on the server. If you are also interested to use PHP for command line scripting (e.g. write scripts autogenerating some images for you offline, or processing text files depending on some arguments you pass to them), you always need the command line executable. For more information, read the section about writing command line PHP applications. In this case, you need no server and no browser. With PHP you can also write desktop GUI applications using the PHP-GTK extension. This is a completely different approach than writing web pages, as you do not output any HTML, but manage windows and objects within them. For more information about PHP-GTK, please » visit the site dedicated to this extension. PHP-GTK is not included in the official PHP distribution. From now on, this section deals with setting up PHP for web servers on Unix and Windows with server module interfaces and CGI executables. You will also find information on the command line executable in the following sections. PHP source code and binary distributions for Windows can be found at » http://www.php.net/downloads.php. We recommend you to choose a » mirror nearest to you for downloading the distributions. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Installation on Unix systems Table of Contents * Apache 1.3.x on Unix systems * Apache 2.x on Unix systems * Lighttpd 1.4 on Unix systems * Sun, iPlanet and Netscape servers on Sun Solaris * CGI and command line setups * HP-UX specific installation notes * OpenBSD installation notes * Solaris specific installation tips * Debian GNU/Linux installation notes This section will guide you through the general configuration and installation of PHP on Unix systems. Be sure to investigate any sections specific to your platform or web server before you begin the process. As our manual outlines in the General Installation Considerations section, we are mainly dealing with web centric setups of PHP in this section, although we will cover setting up PHP for command line usage as well. There are several ways to install PHP for the Unix platform, either with a compile and configure process, or through various pre-packaged methods. This documentation is mainly focused around the process of compiling and configuring PHP. Many Unix like systems have some sort of package installation system. This can assist in setting up a standard configuration, but if you need to have a different set of features (such as a secure server, or a different database driver), you may need to build PHP and/or your web server. If you are unfamiliar with building and compiling your own software, it is worth checking to see whether somebody has already built a packaged version of PHP with the features you need. Prerequisite knowledge and software for compiling: * Basic Unix skills (being able to operate "make" and a C compiler) * An ANSI C compiler * A web server * Any module specific components (such as GD, PDF libs, etc.) When building directly from Git sources or after custom modifications you might also need: * autoconf: 2.13+ (for PHP < 5.4.0), 2.59+ (for PHP >= 5.4.0) * automake: 1.4+ * libtool: 1.4.x+ (except 1.4.2) * re2c: Version 0.13.4 or newer * flex: Version 2.5.4 (for PHP <= 5.2) * bison: Version 1.28 (preferred), 1.35, or 1.75 The initial PHP setup and configuration process is controlled by the use of the command line options of the configure script. You could get a list of all available options along with short explanations running ./configure --help. Our manual documents the different options separately. You will find the core options in the appendix, while the different extension specific options are descibed on the reference pages. When PHP is configured, you are ready to build the module and/or executables. The command make should take care of this. If it fails and you can't figure out why, see the Problems section. __________________________________________________________________ Apache 1.3.x on Unix systems This section contains notes and hints specific to Apache installs of PHP on Unix platforms. We also have instructions and notes for Apache 2 on a separate page. You can select arguments to add to the configure on line 10 below from the list of core configure options and from extension specific options described at the respective places in the manual. The version numbers have been omitted here, to ensure the instructions are not incorrect. You will need to replace the 'xxx' here with the correct values from your files. Example #1 Installation Instructions (Apache Shared Module Version) for PHP 1. gunzip apache_xxx.tar.gz 2. tar -xvf apache_xxx.tar 3. gunzip php-xxx.tar.gz 4. tar -xvf php-xxx.tar 5. cd apache_xxx 6. ./configure --prefix=/www --enable-module=so 7. make 8. make install 9. cd ../php-xxx 10. Now, configure your PHP. This is where you customize your PHP with various options, like which extensions will be enabled. Do a ./configure --help for a list of available options. In our example we'll do a simple configure with Apache 1 and MySQL support. Your path to apxs may differ from our example. ./configure --with-mysql --with-apxs=/www/bin/apxs 11. make 12. make install If you decide to change your configure options after installation, you only need to repeat the last three steps. You only need to restart apache for the new module to take effect. A recompile of Apache is not needed. Note that unless told otherwise, 'make install' will also install PEAR, various PHP tools such as phpize, install the PHP CLI, and more. 13. Setup your php.ini file: cp php.ini-development /usr/local/lib/php.ini You may edit your .ini file to set PHP options. If you prefer your php.ini in another location, use --with-config-file-path=/some/path in step 10. If you instead choose php.ini-production, be certain to read the list of changes within, as they affect how PHP behaves. 14. Edit your httpd.conf to load the PHP module. The path on the right hand side of the LoadModule statement must point to the path of the PHP module on your system. The make install from above may have already added this for you, but be sure to check. LoadModule php5_module libexec/libphp5.so 15. And in the AddModule section of httpd.conf, somewhere under the ClearModuleList, add this: AddModule mod_php5.c 16. Tell Apache to parse certain extensions as PHP. For example, let's have Apache parse the .php extension as PHP. You could have any extension(s) parse as PHP by simply adding more, with each separated by a space. We'll add .phtml to demonstrate. AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .phtml It's also common to setup the .phps extension to show highlighted PHP source, this can be done with: AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps 17. Use your normal procedure for starting the Apache server. (You must stop and restart the server, not just cause the server to reload by using a HUP or USR1 signal.) Alternatively, to install PHP as a static object: Example #2 Installation Instructions (Static Module Installation for Apache) for PHP 1. gunzip -c apache_1.3.x.tar.gz | tar xf - 2. cd apache_1.3.x 3. ./configure 4. cd .. 5. gunzip -c php-5.x.y.tar.gz | tar xf - 6. cd php-5.x.y 7. ./configure --with-mysql --with-apache=../apache_1.3.x 8. make 9. make install 10. cd ../apache_1.3.x 11. ./configure --prefix=/www --activate-module=src/modules/php5/libphp5.a (The above line is correct! Yes, we know libphp5.a does not exist at this stage. It isn't supposed to. It will be created.) 12. make (you should now have an httpd binary which you can copy to your Apache bin d ir if it is your first install then you need to "make install" as well) 13. cd ../php-5.x.y 14. cp php.ini-development /usr/local/lib/php.ini 15. You can edit /usr/local/lib/php.ini file to set PHP options. Edit your httpd.conf or srm.conf file and add: AddType application/x-httpd-php .php Depending on your Apache install and Unix variant, there are many possible ways to stop and restart the server. Below are some typical lines used in restarting the server, for different apache/unix installations. You should replace /path/to/ with the path to these applications on your systems. Example #3 Example commands for restarting Apache 1. Several Linux and SysV variants: /etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd restart 2. Using apachectl scripts: /path/to/apachectl stop /path/to/apachectl start 3. httpdctl and httpsdctl (Using OpenSSL), similar to apachectl: /path/to/httpsdctl stop /path/to/httpsdctl start 4. Using mod_ssl, or another SSL server, you may want to manually stop and start: /path/to/apachectl stop /path/to/apachectl startssl The locations of the apachectl and http(s)dctl binaries often vary. If your system has locate or whereis or which commands, these can assist you in finding your server control programs. Different examples of compiling PHP for apache are as follows: ./configure --with-apxs --with-pgsql This will create a libphp5.so shared library that is loaded into Apache using a LoadModule line in Apache's httpd.conf file. The PostgreSQL support is embedded into this library. ./configure --with-apxs --with-pgsql=shared This will create a libphp5.so shared library for Apache, but it will also create a pgsql.so shared library that is loaded into PHP either by using the extension directive in php.ini file or by loading it explicitly in a script using the dl() function. ./configure --with-apache=/path/to/apache_source --with-pgsql This will create a libmodphp5.a library, a mod_php5.c and some accompanying files and copy this into the src/modules/php5 directory in the Apache source tree. Then you compile Apache using --activate-module=src/modules/php5/libphp5.a and the Apache build system will create libphp5.a and link it statically into the httpd binary. The PostgreSQL support is included directly into this httpd binary, so the final result here is a single httpd binary that includes all of Apache and all of PHP. ./configure --with-apache=/path/to/apache_source --with-pgsql=shared Same as before, except instead of including PostgreSQL support directly into the final httpd you will get a pgsql.so shared library that you can load into PHP from either the php.ini file or directly using dl(). When choosing to build PHP in different ways, you should consider the advantages and drawbacks of each method. Building as a shared object will mean that you can compile apache separately, and don't have to recompile everything as you add to, or change, PHP. Building PHP into apache (static method) means that PHP will load and run faster. For more information, see the Apache » web page on DSO support. Note: Apache's default httpd.conf currently ships with a section that looks like this: User nobody Group "#-1" Unless you change that to "Group nogroup" or something like that ("Group daemon" is also very common) PHP will not be able to open files. Note: Make sure you specify the installed version of apxs when using --with-apxs=/path/to/apxs . You must NOT use the apxs version that is in the apache sources but the one that is actually installed on your system. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Apache 2.x on Unix systems This section contains notes and hints specific to Apache 2.x installs of PHP on Unix systems. Warning We do not recommend using a threaded MPM in production with Apache 2. Use the prefork MPM, which is the default MPM with Apache 2.0 and 2.2. For information on why, read the related FAQ entry on using Apache2 with a threaded MPM The » Apache Documentation is the most authoritative source of information on the Apache 2.x server. More information about installation options for Apache may be found there. The most recent version of Apache HTTP Server may be obtained from » Apache download site, and a fitting PHP version from the above mentioned places. This quick guide covers only the basics to get started with Apache 2.x and PHP. For more information read the » Apache Documentation. The version numbers have been omitted here, to ensure the instructions are not incorrect. In the examples below, 'NN' should be replaced with the specific version of Apache being used. There are currently two versions of Apache 2.x - there's 2.0 and 2.2. While there are various reasons for choosing each, 2.2 is the current latest version, and the one that is recommended, if that option is available to you. However, the instructions here will work for either 2.0 or 2.2. 1. Obtain the Apache HTTP server from the location listed above, and unpack it: gzip -d httpd-2_x_NN.tar.gz tar -xf httpd-2_x_NN.tar 2. Likewise, obtain and unpack the PHP source: gunzip php-NN.tar.gz tar -xf php-NN.tar 3. Build and install Apache. Consult the Apache install documentation for more details on building Apache. cd httpd-2_x_NN ./configure --enable-so make make install 4. Now you have Apache 2.x.NN available under /usr/local/apache2, configured with loadable module support and the standard MPM prefork. To test the installation use your normal procedure for starting the Apache server, e.g.: /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl start and stop the server to go on with the configuration for PHP: /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl stop 5. Now, configure and build PHP. This is where you customize PHP with various options, like which extensions will be enabled. Run ./configure --help for a list of available options. In our example we'll do a simple configure with Apache 2 and MySQL support. If you built Apache from source, as described above, the below example will match your path for apxs, but if you installed Apache some other way, you'll need to adjust the path to apxs accordingly. Note that some distros may rename apxs to apxs2. cd ../php-NN ./configure --with-apxs2=/usr/local/apache2/bin/apxs --with-mysql make make install If you decide to change your configure options after installation, you'll need to re-run the configure, make, and make install steps. You only need to restart apache for the new module to take effect. A recompile of Apache is not needed. Note that unless told otherwise, 'make install' will also install PEAR, various PHP tools such as phpize, install the PHP CLI, and more. 6. Setup your php.ini cp php.ini-development /usr/local/lib/php.ini You may edit your .ini file to set PHP options. If you prefer having php.ini in another location, use --with-config-file-path=/some/path in step 5. If you instead choose php.ini-production, be certain to read the list of changes within, as they affect how PHP behaves. 7. Edit your httpd.conf to load the PHP module. The path on the right hand side of the LoadModule statement must point to the path of the PHP module on your system. The make install from above may have already added this for you, but be sure to check. LoadModule php5_module modules/libphp5.so 8. Tell Apache to parse certain extensions as PHP. For example, let's have Apache parse .php files as PHP. Instead of only using the Apache AddType directive, we want to avoid potentially dangerous uploads and created files such as exploit.php.jpg from being executed as PHP. Using this example, you could have any extension(s) parse as PHP by simply adding them. We'll add .php to demonstrate. SetHandler application/x-httpd-php Or, if we wanted to allow .php, .php2, .php3, .php4, .php5, .php6, and .phtml files to be executed as PHP, but nothing else, we'd use this: SetHandler application/x-httpd-php And to allow .phps files to be handled by the php source filter, and displayed as syntax-highlighted source code, use this: SetHandler application/x-httpd-php-source mod_rewrite may be used To allow any arbitrary .php file to be displayed as syntax-highlighted source code, without having to rename or copy it to a .phps file: RewriteEngine On RewriteRule (.*\.php)s$ $1 [H=application/x-httpd-php-source] The php source filter should not be enabled on production systems, where it may expose confidential or otherwise sensitive information embedded in source code. 9. Use your normal procedure for starting the Apache server, e.g.: /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl start OR service httpd restart Following the steps above you will have a running Apache2 web server with support for PHP as a SAPI module. Of course there are many more configuration options available Apache and PHP. For more information type ./configure --help in the corresponding source tree. Apache may be built multithreaded by selecting the worker MPM, rather than the standard prefork MPM, when Apache is built. This is done by adding the following option to the argument passed to ./configure, in step 3 above: --with-mpm=worker This should not be undertaken without being aware of the consequences of this decision, and having at least a fair understanding of the implications. The Apache documentation regarding » MPM-Modules discusses MPMs in a great deal more detail. Note: The Apache MultiViews FAQ discusses using multiviews with PHP. Note: To build a multithreaded version of Apache, the target system must support threads. In this case, PHP should also be built with experimental Zend Thread Safety (ZTS). Under this configuration, not all extensions will be available. The recommended setup is to build Apache with the default prefork MPM-Module. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Lighttpd 1.4 on Unix systems This section contains notes and hints specific to Lighttpd 1.4 installs of PHP on Unix systems. Please use the » Lighttpd trac to learn how to install Lighttpd properly before continuing. Fastcgi is the preferred SAPI to connect PHP and Lighttpd. Fastcgi is automagically enabled in php-cgi in PHP 5.3, but for older versions configure PHP with --enable-fastcgi. To confirm that PHP has fastcgi enabled, php -v should contain PHP 5.2.5 (cgi-fcgi) Before PHP 5.2.3, fastcgi was enabled on the php binary (there was no php-cgi). Letting Lighttpd spawn php processes To configure Lighttpd to connect to php and spawn fastcgi processes, edit lighttpd.conf. Sockets are preferred to connect to fastcgi processes on the local system. Example #1 Partial lighttpd.conf server.modules += ( "mod_fastcgi" ) fastcgi.server = ( ".php" => (( "socket" => "/tmp/php.socket", "bin-path" => "/usr/local/bin/php-cgi", "bin-environment" => ( "PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN" => "16", "PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS" => "10000" ), "min-procs" => 1, "max-procs" => 1, "idle-timeout" => 20 )) ) The bin-path directive allows lighttpd to spawn fastcgi processes dynamically. PHP will spawn children according to the PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN environment variable. The "bin-environment" directive sets the environment for the spawned processes. PHP will kill a child process after the number of requests specified by PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS is reached. The directives "min-procs" and "max-procs" should generally be avoided with PHP. PHP manages its own children and opcode caches like APC will only share among children managed by PHP. If "min-procs" is set to something greater than 1, the total number of php responders will be multiplied PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN (2 min-procs * 16 children gives 32 responders). Spawning with spawn-fcgi Lighttpd provides a program called spawn-fcgi to ease the process of spawning fastcgi processes easier. Spawning php-cgi It is possible to spawn processes without spawn-fcgi, though a bit of heavy-lifting is required. Setting the PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN environment var controls how many children PHP will spawn to handle incoming requests. Setting PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS will determine how long (in requests) each child will live. Here's a simple bash script to help spawn php responders. Example #2 Spawning FastCGI Responders #!/bin/sh # Location of the php-cgi binary PHP=/usr/local/bin/php-cgi # PID File location PHP_PID=/tmp/php.pid # Binding to an address #FCGI_BIND_ADDRESS=10.0.1.1:10000 # Binding to a domain socket FCGI_BIND_ADDRESS=/tmp/php.sock PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=16 PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=10000 env -i PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=$PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN \ PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=$PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS \ $PHP -b $FCGI_BIND_ADDRESS & echo $! > "$PHP_PID" Connecting to remote FCGI instances Fastcgi instances can be spawned on multiple remote machines in order to scale applications. Example #3 Connecting to remote php-fastcgi instances fastcgi.server = ( ".php" => (( "host" => "10.0.0.2", "port" => 1030 ), ( "host" => "10.0.0.3", "port" => 1030 )) ) __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Sun, iPlanet and Netscape servers on Sun Solaris This section contains notes and hints specific to Sun Java System Web Server, Sun ONE Web Server, iPlanet and Netscape server installs of PHP on Sun Solaris. From PHP 4.3.3 on you can use PHP scripts with the NSAPI module to generate custom directory listings and error pages. Additional functions for Apache compatibility are also available. For support in current web servers read the note about subrequests. You can find more information about setting up PHP for the Netscape Enterprise Server (NES) here: » http://benoit.noss.free.fr/php/install-php4.html To build PHP with Sun JSWS/Sun ONE WS/iPlanet/Netscape web servers, enter the proper install directory for the --with-nsapi=[DIR] option. The default directory is usually /opt/netscape/suitespot/. Please also read /php-xxx-version/sapi/nsapi/nsapi-readme.txt. 1. Install the following packages from » http://www.sunfreeware.com/ or another download site: + autoconf-2.13 + automake-1.4 + bison-1_25-sol26-sparc-local + flex-2_5_4a-sol26-sparc-local + gcc-2_95_2-sol26-sparc-local + gzip-1.2.4-sol26-sparc-local + m4-1_4-sol26-sparc-local + make-3_76_1-sol26-sparc-local + mysql-3.23.24-beta (if you want mysql support) + perl-5_005_03-sol26-sparc-local + tar-1.13 (GNU tar) 2. Make sure your path includes the proper directories PATH=.:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/ccs/bin and make it available to your system export PATH. 3. gunzip php-x.x.x.tar.gz (if you have a .gz dist, otherwise go to 4). 4. tar xvf php-x.x.x.tar 5. Change to your extracted PHP directory: cd ../php-x.x.x 6. For the following step, make sure /opt/netscape/suitespot/ is where your netscape server is installed. Otherwise, change to the correct path and run: ./configure --with-mysql=/usr/local/mysql \ --with-nsapi=/opt/netscape/suitespot/ \ --enable-libgcc 7. Run make followed by make install. After performing the base install and reading the appropriate readme file, you may need to perform some additional configuration steps. Configuration Instructions for Sun/iPlanet/Netscape Firstly you may need to add some paths to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment for the server to find all the shared libs. This can best done in the start script for your web server. The start script is often located in: /path/to/server/https-servername/start. You may also need to edit the configuration files that are located in: /path/to/server/https-servername/config/. 1. Add the following line to mime.types (you can do that by the administration server): type=magnus-internal/x-httpd-php exts=php 2. Edit magnus.conf (for servers >= 6) or obj.conf (for servers < 6) and add the following, shlib will vary depending on your system, it will be something like /opt/netscape/suitespot/bin/libphp4.so. You should place the following lines after mime types init. Init fn="load-modules" funcs="php4_init,php4_execute,php4_auth_trans" shlib="/op t/netscape/suitespot/bin/libphp4.so" Init fn="php4_init" LateInit="yes" errorString="Failed to initialize PHP!" [php_ ini="/path/to/php.ini"] (PHP >= 4.3.3) The php_ini parameter is optional but with it you can place your php.ini in your web server config directory. 3. Configure the default object in obj.conf (for virtual server classes [version 6.0+] in their vserver.obj.conf): . . . .#NOTE this next line should happen after all 'ObjectType' and before all 'AddLo g' lines Service fn="php4_execute" type="magnus-internal/x-httpd-php" [inikey=value inike y=value ...] . . (PHP >= 4.3.3) As additional parameters you can add some special php.ini-values, for example you can set a docroot="/path/to/docroot" specific to the context php4_execute is called. For boolean ini-keys please use 0/1 as value, not "On","Off",... (this will not work correctly), e.g. zlib.output_compression=1 instead of zlib.output_compression="On" 4. This is only needed if you want to configure a directory that only consists of PHP scripts (same like a cgi-bin directory): ObjectType fn="force-type" type="magnus-internal/x-httpd-php" Service fn=php4_execute [inikey=value inikey=value ...] After that you can configure a directory in the Administration server and assign it the style x-httpd-php. All files in it will get executed as PHP. This is nice to hide PHP usage by renaming files to .html. 5. Setup of authentication: PHP authentication cannot be used with any other authentication. ALL AUTHENTICATION IS PASSED TO YOUR PHP SCRIPT. To configure PHP Authentication for the entire server, add the following line to your default object: AuthTrans fn=php4_auth_trans . . . 6. To use PHP Authentication on a single directory, add the following: AuthTrans fn=php4_auth_trans Note: The stacksize that PHP uses depends on the configuration of the web server. If you get crashes with very large PHP scripts, it is recommended to raise it with the Admin Server (in the section "MAGNUS EDITOR"). CGI environment and recommended modifications in php.ini Important when writing PHP scripts is the fact that Sun JSWS/Sun ONE WS/iPlanet/Netscape is a multithreaded web server. Because of that all requests are running in the same process space (the space of the web server itself) and this space has only one environment. If you want to get CGI variables like PATH_INFO, HTTP_HOST etc. it is not the correct way to try this in the old PHP way with getenv() or a similar way (register globals to environment, $_ENV). You would only get the environment of the running web server without any valid CGI variables! Note: Why are there (invalid) CGI variables in the environment? Answer: This is because you started the web server process from the admin server which runs the startup script of the web server, you wanted to start, as a CGI script (a CGI script inside of the admin server!). This is why the environment of the started web server has some CGI environment variables in it. You can test this by starting the web server not from the administration server. Use the command line as root user and start it manually - you will see there are no CGI-like environment variables. Simply change your scripts to get CGI variables in the correct way for PHP 4.x by using the superglobal $_SERVER. If you have older scripts which use $HTTP_HOST, etc., you should turn on register_globals in php.ini and change the variable order too (important: remove "E" from it, because you do not need the environment here): variables_order = "GPCS" register_globals = On Special use for error pages or self-made directory listings (PHP >= 4.3.3) You can use PHP to generate the error pages for "404 Not Found" or similar. Add the following line to the object in obj.conf for every error page you want to overwrite: Error fn="php4_execute" code=XXX script="/path/to/script.php" [inikey=value inik ey=value...] where XXX is the HTTP error code. Please delete any other Error directives which could interfere with yours. If you want to place a page for all errors that could exist, leave the code parameter out. Your script can get the HTTP status code with $_SERVER['ERROR_TYPE']. Another possibility is to generate self-made directory listings. Just create a PHP script which displays a directory listing and replace the corresponding default Service line for type="magnus-internal/directory" in obj.conf with the following: Service fn="php4_execute" type="magnus-internal/directory" script="/path/to/scri pt.php" [inikey=value inikey=value...] For both error and directory listing pages the original URI and translated URI are in the variables $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'] and $_SERVER['PATH_TRANSLATED']. Note about nsapi_virtual() and subrequests (PHP >= 4.3.3) The NSAPI module now supports the nsapi_virtual() function (alias: virtual()) to make subrequests on the web server and insert the result in the web page. This function uses some undocumented features from the NSAPI library. On Unix the module automatically looks for the needed functions and uses them if available. If not, nsapi_virtual() is disabled. Note: But be warned: Support for nsapi_virtual() is EXPERIMENTAL!!! __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ CGI and command line setups By default, PHP is built as both a CLI and CGI program, which can be used for CGI processing. If you are running a web server that PHP has module support for, you should generally go for that solution for performance reasons. However, the CGI version enables users to run different PHP-enabled pages under different user-ids. Warning A server deployed in CGI mode is open to several possible vulnerabilities. Please read our CGI security section to learn how to defend yourself from such attacks. Testing If you have built PHP as a CGI program, you may test your build by typing make test. It is always a good idea to test your build. This way you may catch a problem with PHP on your platform early instead of having to struggle with it later. Using Variables Some server supplied environment variables are not defined in the current » CGI/1.1 specification. Only the following variables are defined there: AUTH_TYPE, CONTENT_LENGTH, CONTENT_TYPE, GATEWAY_INTERFACE, PATH_INFO, PATH_TRANSLATED, QUERY_STRING, REMOTE_ADDR, REMOTE_HOST, REMOTE_IDENT, REMOTE_USER, REQUEST_METHOD, SCRIPT_NAME, SERVER_NAME, SERVER_PORT, SERVER_PROTOCOL, and SERVER_SOFTWARE. Everything else should be treated as 'vendor extensions'. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ HP-UX specific installation notes This section contains notes and hints specific to installing PHP on HP-UX systems. There are two main options for installing PHP on HP-UX systems. Either compile it, or install a pre-compiled binary. Official pre-compiled packages are located here: » http://software.hp.com/ Until this manual section is rewritten, the documentation about compiling PHP (and related extensions) on HP-UX systems has been removed. For now, consider reading the following external resource: » Building Apache and PHP on HP-UX 11.11 __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ OpenBSD installation notes This section contains notes and hints specific to installing PHP on » OpenBSD 3.6. Using Binary Packages Using binary packages to install PHP on OpenBSD is the recommended and simplest method. The core package has been separated from the various modules, and each can be installed and removed independently from the others. The files you need can be found on your OpenBSD CD or on the FTP site. The main package you need to install is php4-core-4.3.8.tgz, which contains the basic engine (plus gettext and iconv). Next, take a look at the module packages, such as php4-mysql-4.3.8.tgz or php4-imap-4.3.8.tgz. You need to use the phpxs command to activate and deactivate these modules in your php.ini. Example #1 OpenBSD Package Install Example # pkg_add php4-core-4.3.8.tgz # /usr/local/sbin/phpxs -s # cp /usr/local/share/doc/php4/php.ini-recommended /var/www/conf/php.ini (add in mysql) # pkg_add php4-mysql-4.3.8.tgz # /usr/local/sbin/phpxs -a mysql (add in imap) # pkg_add php4-imap-4.3.8.tgz # /usr/local/sbin/phpxs -a imap (remove mysql as a test) # pkg_delete php4-mysql-4.3.8 # /usr/local/sbin/phpxs -r mysql (install the PEAR libraries) # pkg_add php4-pear-4.3.8.tgz Read the » packages(7) manual page for more information about binary packages on OpenBSD. Using Ports You can also compile up PHP from source using the » ports tree. However, this is only recommended for users familiar with OpenBSD. The PHP 4 port is split into two sub-directories: core and extensions. The extensions directory generates sub-packages for all of the supported PHP modules. If you find you do not want to create some of these modules, use the no_* FLAVOR. For example, to skip building the imap module, set the FLAVOR to no_imap. Common Problems * The default install of Apache runs inside a » chroot(2) jail, which will restrict PHP scripts to accessing files under /var/www. You will therefore need to create a /var/www/tmp directory for PHP session files to be stored, or use an alternative session backend. In addition, database sockets need to be placed inside the jail or listen on the localhost interface. If you use network functions, some files from /etc such as /etc/resolv.conf and /etc/services will need to be moved into /var/www/etc. The OpenBSD PEAR package automatically installs into the correct chroot directories, so no special modification is needed there. More information on the OpenBSD Apache is available in the » OpenBSD FAQ. * The OpenBSD 3.6 package for the » gd extension requires XFree86 to be installed. If you do not wish to use some of the font features that require X11, install the php4-gd-4.3.8-no_x11.tgz package instead. Older Releases Older releases of OpenBSD used the FLAVORS system to compile up a statically linked PHP. Since it is hard to generate binary packages using this method, it is now deprecated. You can still use the old stable ports trees if you wish, but they are unsupported by the OpenBSD team. If you have any comments about this, the current maintainer for the port is Anil Madhavapeddy (avsm at openbsd dot org). __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Solaris specific installation tips This section contains notes and hints specific to installing PHP on Solaris systems. Required software Solaris installs often lack C compilers and their related tools. Read this FAQ for information on why using GNU versions for some of these tools is necessary. For unpacking the PHP distribution you need * tar * gzip or * bzip2 For compiling PHP you need * gcc (recommended, other C compilers may work) * make * GNU sed For building extra extensions or hacking the code of PHP you might also need * flex (up to PHP 5.2) * re2c * bison * m4 * autoconf * automake In addition, you will need to install (and possibly compile) any additional software specific to your configuration, such as Oracle or MySQL. Using Packages You can simplify the Solaris install process by using pkgadd to install most of your needed components. The Image Packaging System (IPS) for Solaris 11 Express also contains most of the required components for installation using the pkg command. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Debian GNU/Linux installation notes This section contains notes and hints specific to installing PHP on » Debian GNU/Linux. Warning Unofficial builds from third-parties are not supported here. Any bugs should be reported to the Debian team unless they can be reproduced using the latest builds from our » download area. While the instructions for building PHP on Unix apply to Debian as well, this manual page contains specific information for other options, such as using either the apt-get or aptitude commands. This manual page uses these two commands interchangeably. Using APT First, note that other related packages may be desired like libapache2-mod-php5 to integrate with Apache 2, and php-pear for PEAR. Second, before installing a package, it's wise to ensure the package list is up to date. Typically, this is done by running the command apt-get update. Example #1 Debian Install Example with Apache 2 # apt-get install php5-common libapache2-mod-php5 php5-cli APT will automatically install the PHP 5 module for Apache 2 and all of its dependencies, and then activate it. Apache should be restarted in order for the changes take place. For example: Example #2 Stopping and starting Apache once PHP is installed # /etc/init.d/apache2 stop # /etc/init.d/apache2 start Better control of configuration In the last section, PHP was installed with only core modules. It's very likely that additional modules will be desired, such as MySQL, cURL, GD, etc. These may also be installed via the apt-get command. Example #3 Methods for listing additional PHP 5 packages # apt-cache search php5 # aptitude search php5 # aptitude search php5 |grep -i mysql The examples will show a lot of packages including several PHP specific ones like php5-cgi, php5-cli and php5-dev. Determine which are needed and install them like any other with either apt-get or aptitude. And because Debian performs dependency checks, it'll prompt for those so for example to install MySQL and cURL: Example #4 Install PHP with MySQL, cURL # apt-get install php5-mysql php5-curl APT will automatically add the appropriate lines to the different php.ini related files like /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini, /etc/php5/conf.d/pdo.ini, etc. and depending on the extension will add entries similar to extension=foo.so. However, restarting the web server (like Apache) is required before these changes take affect. Common Problems * If the PHP scripts are not parsing via the web server, then it's likely that PHP was not added to the web server's configuration file, which on Debian may be /etc/apache2/apache2.conf or similar. See the Debian manual for further details. * If an extension was seemingly installed yet the functions are undefined, be sure that the appropriate ini file is being loaded and/or the web server was restarted after installation. * There are two basic commands for installing packages on Debian (and other linux variants): apt-get and aptitude. However, explaining the subtle differences between these commands goes beyond the scope of this manual. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Installation on Mac OS X Table of Contents * Using Packages * Using the bundled PHP * Compiling PHP on Mac OS X This section contains notes and hints specific to installing PHP on Mac OS X. PHP is bundled with Macs, and compiling is similar to the Unix installation guide. __________________________________________________________________ Using Packages There are a few pre-packaged and pre-compiled versions of PHP for Mac OS X. This can help in setting up a standard configuration, but if you need to have a different set of features (such as a secure server, or a different database driver), you may need to build PHP and/or your web server yourself. If you are unfamiliar with building and compiling your own software, it's worth checking whether somebody has already built a packaged version of PHP with the features you need. The following resources offer easy to install packages and precompiled binaries for PHP on Mac OS: * MacPorts: » http://www.macports.org/ * Entropy: » http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/php/ * Fink: » http://www.finkproject.org/ * Homebrew: » http://github.com/mxcl/homebrew __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Using the bundled PHP PHP has come standard with Macs since OS X version 10.0.0. Enabling PHP with the default web server requires uncommenting a few lines in the Apache configuration file httpd.conf whereas the CGI and/or CLI are enabled by default (easily accessible via the Terminal program). Enabling PHP using the instructions below is meant for quickly setting up a local development environment. It's highly recommended to always upgrade PHP to the newest version. Like most live software, newer versions are created to fix bugs and add features and PHP being is no different. See the appropriate MAC OS X installation documentation for further details. The following instructions are geared towards a beginner with details provided for getting a default setup to work. All users are encouraged to compile, or install a new packaged version. The standard installation type is using mod_php, and enabling the bundled mod_php on Mac OS X for the Apache web server (the default web server, that is accessible via System Preferences) involves the following steps: 1. Locate and open the Apache configuration file. By default, the location is as follows: /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf Using Finder or Spotlight to find this file may prove difficult as by default it's private and owned by the root user. Note: One way to open this is by using a Unix based text editor in the Terminal, for example nano, and because the file is owned by root we'll use the sudo command to open it (as root) so for example type the following into the Terminal Application (after, it will prompt for a password): sudo nano /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf Noteworthy nano commands: ^w (search), ^o (save), and ^x (exit) where ^ represents the Ctrl key. Note: Versions of Mac OS X prior to 10.5 were bundled with older versions of PHP and Apache. As such, the Apache configuration file on legacy machines may be /etc/httpd/httpd.conf. 2. With a text editor, uncomment the lines (by removing the #) that look similar to the following (these two lines are often not together, locate them both in the file): # LoadModule php5_module libexec/httpd/libphp5.so # AddModule mod_php5.c Notice the location/path. When building PHP in the future, the above files should be replaced or commented out. 3. Be sure the desired extensions will parse as PHP (examples: .php .html and .inc) Due to the following statement already existing in httpd.conf (as of Mac Panther), once PHP is enabled the .php files will automatically parse as PHP. # If php is turned on, we respect .php and .phps files. AddType application/x-httpd-php .php AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps # Since most users will want index.php to work we # also automatically enable index.php DirectoryIndex index.html index.php Note: Before OS X 10.5 (Leopard), PHP 4 was bundled instead of PHP 5 in which case the above instructions will differ slightly by changing 5's to 4's. 4. Be sure the DirectoryIndex loads the desired default index file This is also set in httpd.conf. Typically index.php and index.html are used. By default index.php is enabled because it's also in the PHP check shown above. Adjust accordingly. 5. Set the php.ini location or use the default A typical default location on Mac OS X is /usr/local/php/php.ini and a call to phpinfo() will reveal this information. If a php.ini is not used, PHP will use all default values. See also the related FAQ on finding php.ini. 6. Locate or set the DocumentRoot This is the root directory for all the web files. Files in this directory are served from the web server so the PHP files will parse as PHP before outputting them to the browser. A typical default path is /Library/WebServer/Documents but this can be set to anything in httpd.conf. Alternatively, the default DocumentRoot for individual users is /Users/yourusername/Sites 7. Create a phpinfo() file The phpinfo() function will display information about PHP. Consider creating a file in the DocumentRoot with the following PHP code: 8. Restart Apache, and load the PHP file created above To restart, either execute sudo apachectl graceful in the shell or stop/start the "Personal Web Server" option in the OS X System Preferences. By default, loading local files in the browser will have an URL like so: http://localhost/info.php Or using the DocumentRoot in the user directory is another option and would end up looking like: http://localhost/~yourusername/info.php The CLI (or CGI in older versions) is appropriately named php and likely exists as /usr/bin/php. Open up the terminal, read the command line section of the PHP manual, and execute php -v to check the PHP version of this PHP binary. A call to phpinfo() will also reveal this information. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Compiling PHP on Mac OS X Use the Unix installation guide to compile PHP on Mac OS X. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Installation of PECL extensions Table of Contents * Introduction to PECL Installations * Downloading PECL extensions * Installing a PHP extension on Windows * Compiling shared PECL extensions with the pecl command * Compiling shared PECL extensions with phpize * php-config * Compiling PECL extensions statically into PHP __________________________________________________________________ Introduction to PECL Installations » PECL is a repository of PHP extensions that are made available to you via the » PEAR packaging system. This section of the manual is intended to demonstrate how to obtain and install PECL extensions. These instructions assume /your/phpsrcdir/ is the path to the PHP source distribution, and that extname is the name of the PECL extension. Adjust accordingly. These instructions also assume a familiarity with the » pear command. The information in the PEAR manual for the pear command also applies to the pecl command. To be useful, a shared extension must be built, installed, and loaded. The methods described below provide you with various instructions on how to build and install the extensions, but they do not automatically load them. Extensions can be loaded by adding an extension directive. To this php.ini file, or through the use of the dl() function. When building PHP modules, it's important to have known-good versions of the required tools (autoconf, automake, libtool, etc.) See the » Anonymous Git Instructions for details on the required tools, and required versions. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Downloading PECL extensions There are several options for downloading PECL extensions, such as: * The pecl install extname command downloads the extensions code automatically, so in this case there is no need for a separate download. * » http://pecl.php.net/ The PECL web site contains information about the different extensions that are offered by the PHP Development Team. The information available here includes: ChangeLog, release notes, requirements and other similar details. * pecl download extname PECL extensions that have releases listed on the PECL web site are available for download and installation using the » pecl command. Specific revisions may also be specified. * SVN Most PECL extensions also reside in SVN. A web-based view may be seen at » http://svn.php.net/viewvc/pecl/. To download straight from SVN, the following sequence of commands may be used: $ svn checkout http://svn.php.net/repository/pecl/extname/trunk extname * Windows downloads At this time the PHP project does not compile Windows binaries for PECL extensions. However, to compile PHP under Windows see the chapter titled building PHP for Windows. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Installing a PHP extension on Windows On Windows, you have two ways to load a PHP extension: either compile it into PHP, or load the DLL. Loading a pre-compiled extension is the easiest and preferred way. To load an extension, you need to have it available as a ".dll" file on your system. All the extensions are automatically and periodically compiled by the PHP Group (see next section for the download). To compile an extension into PHP, please refer to building from source documentation. To compile a standalone extension (aka a DLL file), please refer to building from source documentation. If the DLL file is available neither with your PHP distribution nor in PECL, you may have to compile it before you can start using the extension. Where to find an extension? PHP extensions are usually called "php_*.dll" (where the star represents the name of the extension) and they are located under the "PHP\ext" ("PHP\extensions" in PHP 4) folder. PHP ships with the extensions most useful to the majority of developers. They are called "core" extensions. However, if you need functionality not provided by any core extension, you may still be able to find one in PECL. The PHP Extension Community Library (PECL) is a repository for PHP Extensions, providing a directory of all known extensions and hosting facilities for downloading and development of PHP extensions. If you have developed an extension for your own uses, you might want to think about hosting it on PECL so that others with the same needs can benefit from your time. A nice side effect is that you give them a good chance to give you feedback, (hopefully) thanks, bug reports and even fixes/patches. Before you submit your extension for hosting on PECL, please read http://pecl.php.net/package-new.php. Which extension to download? Many times, you will find several versions of each DLL: * Different version numbers (at least the first two numbers should match) * Different thread safety settings * Different processor architecture (x86, x64, ...) * Different debugging settings * etc. You should keep in mind that your extension settings should match all the settings of the PHP executable you are using. The following PHP script will tell you all about your PHP settings: Example #1 phpinfo() call Or from the command line, run: drive:\\path\to\php\executable\php.exe -i Loading an extension The most common way to load a PHP extension is to include it in your php.ini configuration file. Please note that many extensions are already present in your php.ini and that you only need to remove the semicolon to activate them. ;extension=php_extname.dll extension=php_extname.dll However, some web servers are confusing because they do not use the php.ini located alongside your PHP executable. To find out where your actual php.ini resides, look for its path in phpinfo(): Configuration File (php.ini) Path C:\WINDOWS Loaded Configuration File C:\Program Files\PHP\5.2\php.ini After activating an extension, save php.ini, restart the web server and check phpinfo() again. The new extension should now have its own section. Resolving problems If the extension does not appear in phpinfo(), you should check your logs to learn where the problem comes from. If you are using PHP from the command line (CLI), the extension loading error can be read directly on screen. If you are using PHP with a web server, the location and format of the logs vary depending on your software. Please read your web server documentation to locate the logs, as it does not have anything to do with PHP itself. Common problems are the location of the DLL, the value of the " extension_dir" setting inside php.ini and compile-time setting mismatches. If the problem lies in a compile-time setting mismatch, you probably didn't download the right DLL. Try downloading again the extension with the right settings. Again, phpinfo() can be of great help. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Compiling shared PECL extensions with the pecl command PECL makes it easy to create shared PHP extensions. Using the » pecl command, do the following: $ pecl install extname This will download the source for extname, compile, and install extname.so into your extension_dir. extname.so may then be loaded via php.ini By default, the pecl command will not install packages that are marked with the alpha or beta state. If no stable packages are available, you may install a beta package using the following command: $ pecl install extname-beta You may also install a specific version using this variant: $ pecl install extname-0.1 Note: After enabling the extension in php.ini, restarting the web service is required for the changes to be picked up. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Compiling shared PECL extensions with phpize Sometimes, using the pecl installer is not an option. This could be because you're behind a firewall, or it could be because the extension you want to install is not available as a PECL compatible package, such as unreleased extensions from SVN. If you need to build such an extension, you can use the lower-level build tools to perform the build manually. The phpize command is used to prepare the build environment for a PHP extension. In the following sample, the sources for an extension are in a directory named extname: $ cd extname $ phpize $ ./configure $ make # make install A successful install will have created extname.so and put it into the PHP extensions directory. You'll need to and adjust php.ini and add an extension=extname.so line before you can use the extension. If the system is missing the phpize command, and precompiled packages (like RPM's) are used, be sure to also install the appropriate devel version of the PHP package as they often include the phpize command along with the appropriate header files to build PHP and its extensions. Execute phpize --help to display additional usage information. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ php-config php-config is a simple shell script for obtaining information about the installed PHP configuration. When compiling extensions, if you have multiple PHP versions installed, you may specify for which installation you'd like to build by using the --with-php-config option during configuration, specifying the path of the respective php-config script. The list of command line options provided by the php-config script can be queried anytime by running php-config with the -h switch: Usage: /usr/local/bin/php-config [OPTION] Options: --prefix [...] --includes [...] --ldflags [...] --libs [...] --extension-dir [...] --include-dir [...] --php-binary [...] --php-sapis [...] --configure-options [...] --version [...] --vernum [...] CAPTION: Command line options Option Description --prefix Directory prefix where PHP is installed, e.g. /usr/local --includes List of -I options with all include files --ldflags LD Flags which PHP was compiled with --libs Extra libraries which PHP was compiled with --extension-dir Directory where extensions are searched by default --include-dir Directory prefix where header files are installed by default --php-binary Full path to php CLI or CGI binary --php-sapis Show all SAPI modules available --configure-options Configure options to recreate configuration of current PHP installation --version PHP version --vernum PHP version as integer __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Compiling PECL extensions statically into PHP You might find that you need to build a PECL extension statically into your PHP binary. To do this, you'll need to place the extension source under the php-src/ext/ directory and tell the PHP build system to regenerate its configure script. $ cd /your/phpsrcdir/ext $ pecl download extname $ gzip -d < extname.tgz | tar -xvf - $ mv extname-x.x.x extname This will result in the following directory: /your/phpsrcdir/ext/extname From here, force PHP to rebuild the configure script, and then build PHP as normal: $ cd /your/phpsrcdir $ rm configure $ ./buildconf --force $ ./configure --help $ ./configure --with-extname --enable-someotherext --with-foobar $ make $ make install Note: To run the 'buildconf' script you need autoconf 2.13 and automake 1.4+ (newer versions of autoconf may work, but are not supported). Whether --enable-extname or --with-extname is used depends on the extension. Typically an extension that does not require external libraries uses --enable. To be sure, run the following after buildconf: $ ./configure --help | grep extname __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Problems? Table of Contents * Read the FAQ * Other problems * Bug reports __________________________________________________________________ Read the FAQ Some problems are more common than others. The most common ones are listed in the PHP FAQ, part of this manual. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Other problems If you are still stuck, someone on the PHP installation mailing list may be able to help you. You should check out the archive first, in case someone already answered someone else who had the same problem as you. The archives are available from the support page on » http://www.php.net/support.php. To subscribe to the PHP installation mailing list, send an empty mail to » php-install-subscribe@lists.php.net. The mailing list address is » php-install@lists.php.net. If you want to get help on the mailing list, please try to be precise and give the necessary details about your environment (which operating system, what PHP version, what web server, if you are running PHP as CGI or a server module, safe mode, etc.), and preferably enough code to make others able to reproduce and test your problem. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Bug reports If you think you have found a bug in PHP, please report it. The PHP developers probably don't know about it, and unless you report it, chances are it won't be fixed. You can report bugs using the bug-tracking system at » http://bugs.php.net/. Please do not send bug reports in mailing list or personal letters. The bug system is also suitable to submit feature requests. Read the » How to report a bug document before submitting any bug reports! __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Runtime Configuration Table of Contents * The configuration file * .user.ini files * Where a configuration setting may be set * How to change configuration settings __________________________________________________________________ The configuration file The configuration file (php.ini) is read when PHP starts up. For the server module versions of PHP, this happens only once when the web server is started. For the CGI and CLI versions, it happens on every invocation. php.ini is searched for in these locations (in order): * SAPI module specific location (PHPIniDir directive in Apache 2, -c command line option in CGI and CLI, php_ini parameter in NSAPI, PHP_INI_PATH environment variable in THTTPD) * The PHPRC environment variable. Before PHP 5.2.0, this was checked after the registry key mentioned below. * As of PHP 5.2.0, the location of the php.ini file can be set for different versions of PHP. The following registry keys are examined in order: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP\x.y.z], [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP\x.y] and [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP\x], where x, y and z mean the PHP major, minor and release versions. If there is a value for IniFilePath in any of these keys, the first one found will be used as the location of the php.ini (Windows only). * [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP], value of IniFilePath (Windows only). * Current working directory (except CLI). * The web server's directory (for SAPI modules), or directory of PHP (otherwise in Windows). * Windows directory (C:\windows or C:\winnt) (for Windows), or --with-config-file-path compile time option. If php-SAPI.ini exists (where SAPI is the SAPI in use, so, for example, php-cli.ini or php-apache.ini), it is used instead of php.ini. The SAPI name can be determined with php_sapi_name(). Note: The Apache web server changes the directory to root at startup, causing PHP to attempt to read php.ini from the root filesystem if it exists. The php.ini directives handled by extensions are documented on the respective pages of the extensions themselves. A list of the core directives is available in the appendix. Not all PHP directives are necessarily documented in this manual: for a complete list of directives available in your PHP version, please read your well commented php.ini file. Alternatively, you may find » the latest php.ini from Git helpful too. Example #1 php.ini example ; any text on a line after an unquoted semicolon (;) is ignored [php] ; section markers (text within square brackets) are also ignored ; Boolean values can be set to either: ; true, on, yes ; or false, off, no, none register_globals = off track_errors = yes ; you can enclose strings in double-quotes include_path = ".:/usr/local/lib/php" ; backslashes are treated the same as any other character include_path = ".;c:\php\lib" Since PHP 5.1.0, it is possible to refer to existing .ini variables from within .ini files. Example: open_basedir = ${open_basedir} ":/new/dir". __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ .user.ini files Since PHP 5.3.0, PHP includes support for .htaccess-style INI files on a per-directory basis. These files are processed only by the CGI/FastCGI SAPI. This functionality obsoletes the PECL htscanner extension. If you are using Apache, use .htaccess files for the same effect. In addition to the main php.ini file, PHP scans for INI files in each directory, starting with the directory of the requested PHP file, and working its way up to the current document root (as set in $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']). In case the PHP file is outside the document root, only its directory is scanned. Only INI settings with the modes PHP_INI_PERDIR and PHP_INI_USER will be recognized in .user.ini-style INI files. Two new INI directives, user_ini.filename and user_ini.cache_ttl control the use of user INI files. user_ini.filename sets the name of the file PHP looks for in each directory; if set to an empty string, PHP doesn't scan at all. The default is .user.ini. user_ini.cache_ttl controls how often user INI files are re-read. The default is 300 seconds (5 minutes). __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Where a configuration setting may be set These modes determine when and where a PHP directive may or may not be set, and each directive within the manual refers to one of these modes. For example, some settings may be set within a PHP script using ini_set(), whereas others may require php.ini or httpd.conf. For example, the output_buffering setting is PHP_INI_PERDIR therefore it may not be set using ini_set(). However, the display_errors directive is PHP_INI_ALL therefore it may be set anywhere, including with ini_set(). CAPTION: Definition of PHP_INI_* modes Mode Meaning PHP_INI_USER Entry can be set in user scripts (like with ini_set()) or in the Windows registry. Since PHP 5.3, entry can be set in .user.ini PHP_INI_PERDIR Entry can be set in php.ini, .htaccess, httpd.conf or .user.ini (since PHP 5.3) PHP_INI_SYSTEM Entry can be set in php.ini or httpd.conf PHP_INI_ALL Entry can be set anywhere __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ How to change configuration settings Running PHP as an Apache module When using PHP as an Apache module, you can also change the configuration settings using directives in Apache configuration files (e.g. httpd.conf) and .htaccess files. You will need "AllowOverride Options" or "AllowOverride All" privileges to do so. There are several Apache directives that allow you to change the PHP configuration from within the Apache configuration files. For a listing of which directives are PHP_INI_ALL, PHP_INI_PERDIR, or PHP_INI_SYSTEM, have a look at the List of php.ini directives appendix. php_value name value Sets the value of the specified directive. Can be used only with PHP_INI_ALL and PHP_INI_PERDIR type directives. To clear a previously set value use none as the value. Note: Don't use php_value to set boolean values. php_flag (see below) should be used instead. php_flag name on|off Used to set a boolean configuration directive. Can be used only with PHP_INI_ALL and PHP_INI_PERDIR type directives. php_admin_value name value Sets the value of the specified directive. This can not be used in .htaccess files. Any directive type set with php_admin_value can not be overridden by .htaccess or ini_set(). To clear a previously set value use none as the value. php_admin_flag name on|off Used to set a boolean configuration directive. This can not be used in .htaccess files. Any directive type set with php_admin_flag can not be overridden by .htaccess or ini_set(). Example #1 Apache configuration example php_value include_path ".:/usr/local/lib/php" php_admin_flag engine on php_value include_path ".:/usr/local/lib/php" php_admin_flag engine on Caution PHP constants do not exist outside of PHP. For example, in httpd.conf you can not use PHP constants such as E_ALL or E_NOTICE to set the error_reporting directive as they will have no meaning and will evaluate to 0. Use the associated bitmask values instead. These constants can be used in php.ini Changing PHP configuration via the Windows registry When running PHP on Windows, the configuration values can be modified on a per-directory basis using the Windows registry. The configuration values are stored in the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\PHP\Per Directory Values, in the sub-keys corresponding to the path names. For example, configuration values for the directory c:\inetpub\wwwroot would be stored in the key HKLM\SOFTWARE\PHP\Per Directory Values\c\inetpub\wwwroot. The settings for the directory would be active for any script running from this directory or any subdirectory of it. The values under the key should have the name of the PHP configuration directive and the string value. PHP constants in the values are not parsed. However, only configuration values changeable in PHP_INI_USER can be set this way, PHP_INI_PERDIR values can not. Other interfaces to PHP Regardless of how you run PHP, you can change certain values at runtime of your scripts through ini_set(). See the documentation on the ini_set() page for more information. If you are interested in a complete list of configuration settings on your system with their current values, you can execute the phpinfo() function, and review the resulting page. You can also access the values of individual configuration directives at runtime using ini_get() or get_cfg_var(). __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Installation This section holds common questions about the way to install PHP. PHP is available for almost any OS (except maybe for MacOS before OSX), and almost any web server. To install PHP, follow the instructions in Installing PHP. 1. Why shouldn't I use Apache2 with a threaded MPM in a production environment? 2. Unix/Windows: Where should my php.ini file be located? 3. Unix: I installed PHP, but every time I load a document, I get the message 'Document Contains No Data'! What's going on here? 4. Unix: I installed PHP using RPMS, but Apache isn't processing the PHP pages! What's going on here? 5. Unix: I patched Apache with the FrontPage extensions patch, and suddenly PHP stopped working. Is PHP incompatible with the Apache FrontPage extensions? 6. Unix/Windows: I have installed PHP, but when I try to access a PHP script file via my browser, I get a blank screen. 7. Unix/Windows: I have installed PHP, but when try to access a PHP script file via my browser, I get a server 500 error. 8. Some operating systems: I have installed PHP without errors, but when I try to start Apache I get undefined symbol errors: [mybox:user /src/php5] root# apachectl configtest apachectl: /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd Undefined symbols: _compress _uncompress 9. Windows: I have installed PHP, but when I try to access a PHP script file via my browser, I get the error: cgi error: The specified CGI application misbehaved by not returning a complete set of HTTP headers. The headers it did return are: 10. Windows: I've followed all the instructions, but still can't get PHP and IIS to work together! 11. When running PHP as CGI with IIS, PWS, OmniHTTPD or Xitami, I get the following error: Security Alert! PHP CGI cannot be accessed directly.. 12. How do I know if my php.ini is being found and read? It seems like it isn't as my changes aren't being implemented. 13. How do I add my PHP directory to the PATH on Windows? 14. How do I make the php.ini file available to PHP on windows? 15. Is it possible to use Apache content negotiation (MultiViews option) with PHP? 16. Is PHP limited to process GET and POST request methods only? Why shouldn't I use Apache2 with a threaded MPM in a production environment? PHP is glue. It is the glue used to build cool web applications by sticking dozens of 3rd-party libraries together and making it all appear as one coherent entity through an intuitive and easy to learn language interface. The flexibility and power of PHP relies on the stability and robustness of the underlying platform. It needs a working OS, a working web server and working 3rd-party libraries to glue together. When any of these stop working PHP needs ways to identify the problems and fix them quickly. When you make the underlying framework more complex by not having completely separate execution threads, completely separate memory segments and a strong sandbox for each request to play in, further weaknesses are introduced into PHP's system. If you want to use a threaded MPM, look at a FastCGI configuration where PHP is running in its own memory space. Unix/Windows: Where should my php.ini file be located? By default on Unix it should be in /usr/local/lib which is /lib. Most people will want to change this at compile-time with the --with-config-file-path flag. You would, for example, set it with something like: --with-config-file-path=/etc And then you would copy php.ini-development from the distribution to /etc/php.ini and edit it to make any local changes you want. --with-config-file-scan-dir=PATH On Windows the default path for the php.ini file is the Windows directory. If you're using the Apache webserver, php.ini is first searched in the Apaches install directory, e.g. c:\program files\apache group\apache. This way you can have different php.ini files for different versions of Apache on the same machine. See also the chapter about the configuration file. Unix: I installed PHP, but every time I load a document, I get the message 'Document Contains No Data'! What's going on here? This probably means that PHP is having some sort of problem and is core-dumping. Look in your server error log to see if this is the case, and then try to reproduce the problem with a small test case. If you know how to use 'gdb', it is very helpful when you can provide a backtrace with your bug report to help the developers pinpoint the problem. If you are using PHP as an Apache module try something like: + Stop your httpd processes + gdb httpd + Stop your httpd processes + > run -X -f /path/to/httpd.conf + Then fetch the URL causing the problem with your browser + > run -X -f /path/to/httpd.conf + If you are getting a core dump, gdb should inform you of this now + type: bt + You should include your backtrace in your bug report. This should be submitted to » http://bugs.php.net/ If your script uses the regular expression functions (preg_match() and friends), you should make sure that you compiled PHP and Apache with the same regular expression package. This should happen automatically with PHP and Apache 1.3.x Unix: I installed PHP using RPMS, but Apache isn't processing the PHP pages! What's going on here? Assuming you installed both Apache and PHP from RPM packages, you need to uncomment or add some or all of the following lines in your httpd.conf file: # Extra Modules AddModule mod_php.c AddModule mod_perl.c # Extra Modules LoadModule php_module modules/mod_php.so LoadModule php5_module modules/libphp5.so LoadModule perl_module modules/libperl.so And add: AddType application/x-httpd-php .php ... to the global properties, or to the properties of the VirtualDomain you want to have PHP support added to. Unix: I patched Apache with the FrontPage extensions patch, and suddenly PHP stopped working. Is PHP incompatible with the Apache FrontPage extensions? No, PHP works fine with the FrontPage extensions. The problem is that the FrontPage patch modifies several Apache structures, that PHP relies on. Recompiling PHP (using 'make clean ; make') after the FP patch is applied would solve the problem. Unix/Windows: I have installed PHP, but when I try to access a PHP script file via my browser, I get a blank screen. Do a 'view source' in the web browser and you will probably find that you can see the source code of your PHP script. This means that the web server did not send the script to PHP for interpretation. Something is wrong with the server configuration - double check the server configuration against the PHP installation instructions. Unix/Windows: I have installed PHP, but when try to access a PHP script file via my browser, I get a server 500 error. Something went wrong when the server tried to run PHP. To get to see a sensible error message, from the command line, change to the directory containing the PHP executable (php.exe on Windows) and run php -i. If PHP has any problems running, then a suitable error message will be displayed which will give you a clue as to what needs to be done next. If you get a screen full of HTML codes (the output of the phpinfo() function) then PHP is working, and your problem may be related to your server configuration which you should double check. Some operating systems: I have installed PHP without errors, but when I try to start Apache I get undefined symbol errors: [mybox:user /src/php5] root# apachectl configtest apachectl: /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd Undefined symbols: _compress _uncompress This has actually nothing to do with PHP, but with the MySQL client libraries. Some need --with-zlib , others do not. This is also covered in the MySQL FAQ. Windows: I have installed PHP, but when I try to access a PHP script file via my browser, I get the error: cgi error: The specified CGI application misbehaved by not returning a complete set of HTTP headers. The headers it did return are: This error message means that PHP failed to output anything at all. To get to see a sensible error message, from the command line, change to the directory containing the PHP executable (php.exe on Windows) and run php -i. If PHP has any problems running, then a suitable error message will be displayed which will give you a clue as to what needs to be done next. If you get a screen full of HTML codes (the output of the phpinfo() function) then PHP is working. Once PHP is working at the command line, try accessing the script via the browser again. If it still fails then it could be one of the following: + File permissions on your PHP script, php.exe, php5ts.dll, php.ini or any PHP extensions you are trying to load are such that the anonymous internet user ISUR_ cannot access them. + The script file does not exist (or possibly isn't where you think it is relative to your web root directory). Note that for IIS you can trap this error by ticking the 'check file exists' box when setting up the script mappings in the Internet Services Manager. If a script file does not exist then the server will return a 404 error instead. There is also the additional benefit that IIS will do any authentication required for you based on the NTLanMan permissions on your script file. Windows: I've followed all the instructions, but still can't get PHP and IIS to work together! Make sure any user who needs to run a PHP script has the rights to run php.exe! IIS uses an anonymous user which is added at the time IIS is installed. This user needs rights to php.exe. Also, any authenticated user will also need rights to execute php.exe. And for IIS4 you need to tell it that PHP is a script engine. Also, you will want to read this faq. When running PHP as CGI with IIS, PWS, OmniHTTPD or Xitami, I get the following error: Security Alert! PHP CGI cannot be accessed directly.. You must set the cgi.force_redirect directive to 0. It defaults to 1 so be sure the directive isn't commented out (with a ;). Like all directives, this is set in php.ini Because the default is 1, it's critical that you're 100% sure that the correct php.ini file is being read. Read this faq for details. How do I know if my php.ini is being found and read? It seems like it isn't as my changes aren't being implemented. To be sure your php.ini is being read by PHP, make a call to phpinfo(). Near the top, there will be a listing called Configuration File (php.ini). This will tell you where PHP is looking for php.ini and whether or not it's being read. If just a directory PATH exists, then it's not being read, and you should put your php.ini in that directory. If php.ini is included within the PATH, it is being read. If php.ini is being read and you're running PHP as a module, then be sure to restart your web server after making changes to php.ini See also php_ini_loaded_file(). How do I add my PHP directory to the PATH on Windows? On Windows NT+ and Windows Server 2000+: + Go to Control Panel and open the System icon (Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> System, or just Start -> Control Panel -> System for Windows XP/2003+) + Go to the Advanced tab + Click on the 'Environment Variables' button + Look into the 'System Variables' pane + Find the Path entry (you may need to scroll to find it) + Double click on the Path entry + Enter your PHP directory at the end, including ';' before (e.g. ;C:\php) + Press OK On Windows 98/Me you need to edit the autoexec.bat file: + Open the Notepad (Start -> Run and enter notepad) + Open the C:\autoexec.bat file + Locate the line with PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;..... and add: ;C:\php to the end of the line + Save the file and restart your computer Note: Be sure to reboot after following the steps above to ensure that the PATH changes are applied. The PHP manual used to promote the copying of files into the Windows system directory, this is because this directory (C:\Windows, C:\WINNT, etc.) is by default in the systems PATH. Copying files into the Windows system directory has long since been deprecated and may cause problems. How do I make the php.ini file available to PHP on windows? There are several ways of doing this. If you are using Apache, read their installation specific instructions (Apache 1, Apache 2), otherwise you must set the PHPRC environment variable: On Windows NT, 2000, XP and 2003: + Go to Control Panel and open the System icon (Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> System, or just Start -> Control Panel -> System for Windows XP/2003) + Go to the Advanced tab + Click on the 'Environment Variables' button + Look into the 'System variables' pane + Click on 'New' and enter 'PHPRC' as the variable name and the directory where php.ini is located as the variable value (e.g. C:\php) + Press OK and restart your computer On Windows 98/Me you need to edit the autoexec.bat file: + Open the Notepad (Start -> Run and enter notepad) + Open the C:\autoexec.bat file + Add a new line to the end of the file: set PHPRC=C:\php (replace C:\php with the directory where php.ini is located). Please note that the path cannot contain spaces. For instance, if you have installed PHP in C:\Program Files\PHP, you would enter C:\PROGRA~1\PHP instead. + Save the file and restart your computer Is it possible to use Apache content negotiation (MultiViews option) with PHP? If links to PHP files include extension, everything works perfect. This FAQ is only for the case when links to PHP files don't include extension and you want to use content negotiation to choose PHP files from URL with no extension. In this case, replace the line AddType application/x-httpd-php .php with: AddHandler php5-script php AddType text/html php This solution doesn't work for Apache 1 as PHP module doesn't catch php-script. Is PHP limited to process GET and POST request methods only? No, it is possible to handle any request method, e.g. CONNECT. Proper response status can be sent with header(). If only GET and POST methods should be handled, it can be achieved with this Apache configuration: Deny from all