Servers-Apache 2.0

This section contains notes and hints specific to Apache 2.0 installs of PHP, both for Unix and Windows versions.

Warning

Do not use Apache 2.0 and PHP in a production environment neither on Unix nor on Windows.

You are highly encouraged to take a look at the Apache Documentation to get a basic understanding of the Apache 2.0 Server.

PHP and Apache 2.0 compatibility notes

The following versions of PHP are known to work with the most recent version of Apache 2.0:

These versions of PHP are compatible to Apache 2.0.40 and later.

Note: Apache 2.0 SAPI-support started with PHP 4.2.0. PHP 4.2.3 works with Apache 2.0.39, don't use any other version of Apache with PHP 4.2.3. However, the recommended setup is to use PHP 4.3.0 or later with the most recent version of Apache2.

All mentioned versions of PHP will work still with Apache 1.3.x.

PHP and Apache 2 on Linux

Download the most recent version of Apache 2.0 and a fitting PHP version from the above mentioned places. This quick guide covers only the basics to get started with Apache 2.0 and PHP. For more information read the Apache Documentation. The version numbers have been omitted here, to ensure the instructions are not incorrect. You will need to replace the 'NN' here with the correct values from your files.

Example 3-6. Installation Instructions (Apache 2 Shared Module Version)

1.  gzip -d httpd-2_0_NN.tar.gz
2.  tar xvf httpd-2_0_NN.tar
3.  gunzip php-NN.tar.gz
4.  tar -xvf php-NN.tar
5.  cd httpd-2_0_NN
6.  ./configure --enable-so
7.  make
8.  make install

    Now you have Apache 2.0.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.

9.  cd ../php-NN

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 2 and MySQL support.  Your
    path to apxs may differ, in fact, the binary may even be named apxs2 on
    your system. 
    
      ./configure --with-apxs2=/usr/local/apache2/bin/apxs --with-mysql

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 
    
    cp php.ini-dist /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 10.
    
    If you instead choose php.ini-recommended, 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.

    For PHP 4:
  
      LoadModule php4_module libexec/libphp4.so
      
    For PHP 5:
    
      LoadModule php5_module libexec/libphp5.so
 
15. 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
 
16. Use your normal procedure for starting the Apache server, e.g.:
   
      /usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl start

Following the steps above you will have a running Apache 2.0 with support for PHP as SAPI module. Of course there are many more configuration options available for both, Apache and PHP. For more information use ./configure --help in the corresponding source tree. In case you wish to build a multithreaded version of Apache 2.0 you must overwrite the standard MPM-Module prefork either with worker or perchild. To do so append to your configure line in step 6 above either the option --with-mpm=worker or --with-mpm=perchild. Take care about the consequences and understand what you are doing. For more information read the Apache documentation about the MPM-Modules.

Note: To build a multithreaded version of Apache your system must support threads. This also implies to build PHP with experimental Zend Thread Safety (ZTS). Therefore not all extensions might be available. The recommended setup is to build Apache with the standard prefork MPM-Module.

PHP and Apache 2.0 on Windows

Consider to read the Windows specific notes for Apache 2.0.

Warning

Apache 2.0 is designed to run on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 or Windows XP. At this time, support for Windows 9x is incomplete. Apache 2.0 is not expected to work on those platforms at this time.

Download the most recent version of Apache 2.0 and a fitting PHP version from the above mentioned places. Follow the Manual Installation Steps and come back to go on with the integration of PHP and Apache.

There are two ways to set up PHP to work with Apache 2.0 on Windows. One is to use the CGI binary the other is to use the Apache module DLL. In either case you need to stop the Apache server, and edit your httpd.conf to configure Apache to work with PHP.

You need to insert these three lines to your Apache httpd.conf configuration file to set up the CGI binary:

Example 3-7. PHP and Apache 2.0 as CGI

ScriptAlias /php/ "c:/php/"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
Action application/x-httpd-php "/php/php.exe"

If you would like to use PHP as a module in Apache 2.0, be sure to move php4ts.dll for PHP 4, or php5ts.dll for PHP 5, to winnt/system32 (for Windows NT/2000) or windows/system32 (for Windows XP), overwriting any older file. You need to insert these two lines to your Apache httpd.conf configuration file to set up the PHP-Module for Apache 2.0:

Example 3-8. PHP and Apache 2.0 as Module

; For PHP 4 do something like this:
LoadModule php4_module "c:/php/sapi/php4apache2.dll"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

; For PHP 5 do something like this:
LoadModule php5_module "c:/php/sapi/php5apache2.dll"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

Note: Remember to substitute the c:/php/ for your actual path to PHP in the above examples. Take care to use either php4apache2.dll or php5apache2.dll in your LoadModule directive and notphp4apache.dll or php5apache.dll as the latter ones are designed to run with Apache 1.3.x.

Warning

Don't mix up your installation with dll files from different PHP versions . You have the only choice to use the dll's and extensions that ship with your downloaded PHP version.