Apache 2.0 on Unix systems

This section contains notes and hints specific to Apache 2.0 installs of PHP on Unix systems.

Warning

We do not recommend using a threaded MPM in production with Apache2. Use the prefork MPM instead, or use Apache1. For information on why, read the related FAQ entry on using Apache2 with a threaded MPM

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.x compatibility notes: The following versions of PHP are known to work with the most recent version of Apache 2.0.x:
PHP 4.3.0 or later available at /downloads.php.
the latest stable development version. Get the source code http://snaps.php.net/php4-latest.tar.gz or download binaries for Windows http://snaps.php.net/win32/php4-win32-latest.zip.
a prerelease version downloadable from http://qa.php.net/.
you have always the option to obtain PHP through anonymous CVS.
These versions of PHP are compatible to Apache 2.0.40 and later.
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.

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 4-4. 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: If you want to use content negotiation, read the Apache MultiViews FAQ.

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.

User Contributed Notes
Apache 2.0 on Unix systems

v_santhanam at nospam dot ettimadai dot amrita dot edu
13-May-2005 02:30


if you are getting the following error : "Cannot load /usr/local/apache2/modules/libphp4.so into server: /usr/local/apache2/

modules/libphp4.so: undefined symbol: compress" , you have to add --with-zlib to php config

28-Apr-2005 12:42


Fedora3: No need to add/change this line;

LoadModule php5_module        modules/libphp5.so

to;

LoadModule php5_module libexec/libphp5.so

as it will generate an error on FC3...cheers.



Mark Sargent.

sukhruprai at yahoo dot com
30-Mar-2005 06:17


For good step by step instructions read Compiling PHP and Apache 2 from source on Linux OS:

http://www10.brinkster.com/ssruprai/comphp.asp

fggarcia at ice dot co dot cr
25-Mar-2005 08:26


I think that it's important says that the option --with-apxs2=/usr/local/apache2/bin/apxs in the configure script it's necesary to build the libphp5.so (in PHP5). Then in the make install command, this .so module will be installed in the modules directory of Apache home



I see on the Web a lot of persons with the trouble of missing the libphp5.so and this is the solution.



Regards,



Frank.

mihai dot sandu at gtstelecom dot ro
28-Feb-2005 08:22


For the SuSE9.2 install of PHP5.

First:

If building on a x64 platform, please set LDFLAGS="-L/usr/lib64" before configure.

As for install, it suffices to go to /etc/apache2 and:

ln -s sysconfig.d/loadmodule.conf httpd2-prefork.conf

and then make install

deborah dot seidman at imc-fr dot com
17-Feb-2005 01:01


We turned in circles with several php and openSSL versions to get apache 2.0.x working with php --with openssl on SuSE 9.0 Enterprise. Apache always failed to load phplib4.so and phplib5.so ! 



We finally used the SuSE apache2-Prefork (2.0.49) with php 4.3.9.



Using Dan Scott's Makefile trick on the make install, IT ALL WORKED !!



Thanks Dan, we were ready to use php without openSSL, (not ideal for our config !)

neil
10-Feb-2005 05:21


To install mysql and mysqli with PHP5 do the following:



after doing:



./configure --with-mysql=/path/to/mysql_config --with-mysqli=/path/to/mysql_config



do this:



"

    if you want to use both the old mysql and the new mysqli interface, load the Makefile into your editor and search for the line beginning with EXTRA_LIBS; it includes -lmysqlclient twice; remove the second instance

"



then you can:



make

make install



.....

Pleasse note: you must have mysql-dev installed (RPM or source) or you will not have the mysql_config file at all.  The standard, server, and client installations of MySQL do not include it.  I read somewhere that the mysql and mysqli paths must be identical.



Quoted from Michael Kofler at the following link:

http://www.kofler.cc/forum/forumthread.php?rootID=3571

jmartinNO at SPAMcolumbiaservices dot net
24-Jan-2005 06:44


Well I was getting the following error when trying to run make (shared module for Apache 2.0.52)



*** Warning: inter-library dependencies are not known to be supported.

*** All declared inter-library dependencies are being dropped.



(Then of course 'make install' would puke on itself not having what it needs.)



Soo, after some time looking I found that using:  



libtoolize --force



and following the instructions to add the contents of 1 file to the local file 



cat /some/dir/file1 >> localfile



Would produce the desired results when you run:



make clean

make

Dan Scott (dan dot scott at acm dot org)
19-Jan-2005 11:36


Building PHP 5.x with Apache2 on SuSE Professional 9.1/9.2



SuSE uses a rather fragmented set of Apache configuration files stored in /etc/apache2/. When you configure PHP 5.x with:



$ ./configure --with-apxs2=/usr/sbin/apxs2

$ make



everything builds just fine; but when you issue:

$ su -c "make install"



the unconventional Apache conf file layout confuses the install-sapi section of the Makefile and the process halts with the following error:



apxs:Error: Config file /etc/apache2/httpd2-prefork.conf not found.

make: *** [install-sapi] Error 1



At this point only the PHP SAPI library has been copied into place; the rest of the files (like PEAR scripts, PHP-CLI, etc) have not been installed. But never fear! You can overcome this problem with the following steps:



1. Edit Makefile and change the following line to remove "install-sapi":

install_targets = install-sapi install-cli install-pear install-build install-headers install-programs



2. Issue the make install command again:

$ su -c "make install"



3. Add the PHP module & type instructions to the Apache configuration. As root, create a new file, /etc/apache2/conf.d/php5.conf that contains the following lines:



LoadModule php5_module /usr/lib/apache2/libphp5.so

AddType application/x-httpd-php php



--- And that's it. Everything else is just as the documentation suggests it should be.

Jon Drukman
13-Jan-2005 07:09


We have been running Apache 2 Prefork + PHP 4 (many different versions) for well over a year now, serving 10's of millions of pages per day on dozens of servers.  It is completely stable and reliable.

praveen dot k at masconit dot com
15-Nov-2004 04:38


Hi too had same problem with multiview like when i execute http://huey/admin/test.php it used to compile but when i use http://huey/admin/test it wouldnt recognise it as php file... i worked it out with the addhandler method and AddType in different line and setting multiview for directive 



"multiviews Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews"



the directives u can set it to root directory so now when u type pn test it will search in precendence for test.php, test.html if any .....



its working for me with apache2.0.47 and php 4.3.9 on solaris



praveen

nospam-1 at spam dot matt dot blissett dot me dot uk
30-Sep-2004 06:52


If you're trying to get PHP and Multiviews to work properly, try this page:

http://tranchant.plus.com/notes/multiviews



(In brief, a request for the URL http://example.net/thing, where there are possible matches thing.php and thing.pdf, returns a 406 with many browsers because of the application/x-httpd-php MIME type set above. The link above gives a better method for using php, instead using these directives:

AddHandler php5-script php [or php-script for php4]

AddType text/html php

For more info see the link.)