how to setup php?

Hour 2: Installing PHP

Overview

Before getting started with the PHP language, you must first acquire, install, and

configure the PHP interpreter. PHP is available for a wide range of platforms and

works in conjunction with many servers.

In this hour, you will learn

Which platforms, servers, and databases are supported by PHP4

Where to find PHP and other useful open source software

One way of installing PHP on Linux

Some options that add features to your PHP binary

Some configuration directives

How to find help when things go wrong

Platforms, Servers, Databases, and PHP

PHP is truly cross-platform. It runs on the Windows operating system, most versions

of UNIX including Linux, and even the Macintosh. Support is provided for a range of

Web servers including Apache (itself open source and cross-platform), Microsoft

Internet Information Server, WebSite Pro, the iPlanet Web Server, and Microsoft's

Personal Web Server. The latter is useful if you want to test your scripts offline on a

Windows machine, although Apache can also be run on Windows.

You can also compile PHP as a standalone application. You can then call it from the

command line. In this book, we will concentrate on building Web applications, but

do not underestimate the power of PHP4 as a general scripting tool comparable to

Perl.

PHP is designed to integrate easily with databases. This feature is one of the factors

that make the language such a good choice for building sophisticated Web

applications. Many databases are directly supported, including Adabas D, InterBase,

Solid, dBASE, mSQL, Sybase, Empress, MySQL, Velocis, FilePro, Oracle, UNIX dbm,

Informix, and PostgreSQL. PHP also supports ODBC.

30

Throughout this b ook, we will be using a combination of Linux, Apache, and MySQL.

All these are free to download and use, and can be installed relatively easily on a PC.

You can find out more about getting Linux for your computer at

<http://www.linux.org/help/beginner/distributions.html >. If you want to run Linux

on a Power PC, you can find information about LinuxPPC at

<http://www.linuxppc.org>.

MySQL, the database we will use in this book, can be downloaded from

<http://www.mysql.com>. There are versions for many operating systems

including UNIX, Windows, and OS/2.

On the other hand, you can easily stick with Windows, NT, or MacOS. PHP is, after

all, a cross-platform scripting language.

Where to Find PHP and More

You can find PHP4 at <http://www.php.net/>. PHP4 is open source software, which

means that you won't need your credit card handy when you download it.

The PHP WebSite is an excellent resource for PHP coders. The entire manual can be

read online at <http://www.php.net/manual/>, complete with helpful annotations

from other PHP coders. You can also download the manual in several formats.

Installing PHP4 for Linux and Apache

In this section, we will look at one way of installing PHP4 with Apache on Linux. The

process is more or less the same for any UNIX operating system. You might be able

to find prebuilt versions of PHP for your system, which are simple to install.

Compiling PHP, though, gives you greater control over the features built in to your

binary.

Before you install you should make sure that  you are logged into your system as the

root user. If you are not allowed access to your system's root account, you may

need to ask your system administrator to install PHP for you.

There are two ways of compiling an Apache PHP module. You can either recompile

Apache, statically linking PHP into it, or you can compile PHP as a Dynamic Shared

Object (DSO). If your version of Apache was compiled with DSO support, it will be

capable of supporting new modules without the need for recompiling the server.