This section holds common questions about the way to install
PHP. PHP is available for almost any OS, and almost any web server.
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Why shouldn't I use Apache2 with a threaded MPM in a production environment?
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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.
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Unix/Windows: Where should my php.ini file be
located?
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By default on Unix it should be in /usr/local/lib
which is <install-path>/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
--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.
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Unix: I installed PHP, but every time I load a document, I get the
message 'Document Contains No Data'! What's going on here?
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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:
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Stop your httpd processes
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gdb httpd
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Stop your httpd processes
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> run -X -f /path/to/httpd.conf
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Then fetch the URL causing the problem with your browser
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> run -X -f /path/to/httpd.conf
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If you are getting a core dump, gdb should inform you of this now
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type: bt
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You should include your backtrace in your bug report. This should be submitted to
» https://github.com/php/php-src/issues
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
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Unix: I installed PHP using RPMS, but Apache isn't processing the
PHP pages! What's going on here?
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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.
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Unix: I patched Apache with the FrontPage extensions patch, and
suddenly PHP stopped working. Is PHP incompatible with the
Apache FrontPage extensions?
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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.
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Unix/Windows: I have installed PHP, but when I try to
access a PHP script file via my browser, I get a blank screen.
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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.
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Unix/Windows: I have installed PHP, but when try to
access a PHP script file via my browser, I get a
server 500 error.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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:
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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:
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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_<machinename> cannot access them.
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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.
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Windows: I've followed all the instructions, but still can't
get PHP and IIS to work together!
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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.
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When running PHP as CGI with IIS, PWS, OmniHTTPD or Xitami,
I get the following error:
Security Alert! PHP CGI
cannot be accessed directly..
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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.
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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.
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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().
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How do I make the php.ini file available to PHP on Windows?
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There are several ways of doing this. If you are using Apache,
refer to the Apache documentation, otherwise
you must set the PHPRC environment variable.
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Is it possible to use Apache content negotiation (MultiViews option)
with PHP?
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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.
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Is PHP limited to process GET and POST request methods only?
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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:
<LimitExcept GET POST>
Deny from all
</LimitExcept>
