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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 Apache 2. Use the prefork MPM instead, or use Apache 1. 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.

Note: 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 » http://www.php.net/downloads.php.

the latest stable development version. Get the source code » http://snaps.php.net/php5-latest.tar.gz or download binaries for Windows » http://snaps.php.net/win32/php5-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 #1 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 modules/libphp4.so For PHP 5: LoadModule php5_module modules/libphp5.so 15. 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 .phtml to demonstrate. <FilesMatch \.php$> SetHandler application/x-httpd-php </FilesMatch> Or, if we wanted to allow .php, .php2, .php3, .php4, .php5, .php6, and .phtml files to be executed as PHP, but nothing else, we'd use this: <FilesMatch "\.ph(p[2-6]?|tml)$"> SetHandler application/x-httpd-php </FilesMatch> And to allow .phps files to be executed as PHP source files, add this: <FilesMatch "\.phps$"> SetHandler application/x-httpd-php-source </FilesMatch> 16. 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. If you wish to build a multithreaded version of Apache2, 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. Before doing so, please beware the consequences and have at least a fair understand of what the implications. For more information, read the Apache documentation regarding » 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.