PHP 4.2.2 RH 7.3 OCI8 problem

scottcarpenter

Greetings. Since I am a newbie, I thought I would start here. I have a problem. I have a RedHat Linux 7.3 Pro box that has the Oracle 8.1.7 8i software on it. I want the PHP 4.2.2 process to be able to access the Oracle Call Interface to access the Oracle DB server. The problem is that the RH Linux did not come with the oci8.so file for the PHP to use. What should I do? I tried building the oci8.so file, but the file I have doesn't work. How can I debug this?

merkinmuffley

I am looking at an install of PHP 4.2.2 with oracle 8.1.7 on redhat 7.2, and I can't find any "oci8.so" anywhere. I don't think it exists. However, PHP definitely has access to the oci8 function library.

My take on this is, if you downloaded the entire PHP source code, and oracle is installed correctly, you shouldn't need anything else to enable the oci8 functions. All you have to do is configure PHP correctly before you compile it. To configure, I always use a shell script so I can remember how I did it last. Here's the shell script I used to configure the latest build:

export ORACLE_BASE=/oc8i01/app/oracle
export ORACLE_HOME=/oc8i01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7
export CFLAGS=-DEAPI;
./configure --with-oracle \
        --prefix=/usr/local/apache \
        --with-apxs=/usr/local/apache/bin/apxs \
        --with-config-file-path=/usr/local/apache/conf \
        --with-oci8=/oc8i01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7

hope that helps you out a little.

scottcarpenter

Yes, that does help a little. I think I know what the root of my problem is. On RH 7.3 the PHP engine is installed as an Apache module. There is a file called libphp4.so in /usr/lib (I think) which has not changed with my new "make all install" for PHP 4.2.2. I think a new libphp4.so is needed and maybe Apache has to be rebuilt, too. My PHP 4.2.2 is configured and compiled "--with-oci8=/u01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7", but the make does not create the libphp4.so file. Am I thinking along the right line of thought? The "make all install" puts everything in /usr/local, not /usr which RH 7.3 uses. I have to copy things MANUALLY. Plenty of room for mistakes there. Any better configuration ideas?

merkinmuffley

I also have PHP running as an Apache module, and I think it's a fine setup. The only configuration ideas I can offer are organizational ones that may make things easier for you in the future.

Apache can be told where to find each module it loads; in httpd.conf there's a section "DSO Support" with a bunch of calls to LoadModule. You ought to have a line like this at or toward the end:
LoadModule php4_module libexec/libphp4.so
The third argument is simply the path to the module, in my case it's relative to the apache base directory at /usr/local/apache. But you probably already know this, the point is that all your modules should be in the same place. And, if you put them in the libexec directory in your apache install (which is the default location), you won't have to change it next time you recompile PHP; because in case you haven't noticed, PHP like to overwrite your httpd.conf when you install a new version.

You're right about the fact that "make" does not produce the libphp4.so file; that won't get created until you "make install". If you compile and install, it will get overwritten. It's a good idea to copy it to another place before you install; that way if the new module doesn't work, you can immediately flip back in the old one whilst figuring out your other problems.

I'm not a linux guru and I don't know what exactly the command "make all install" does. The sequence I've always used when compiling & installing PHP is "make clean", "configure", "make", and "make install". What does that command do exactly?

scottcarpenter

Inside your Makefile there are different labels. "install" is a label. "all" is a label. "make all install" tells the make system to do all the dependencies associated with the "all" label. Then do all the things associated with the "install" label in the Makefile. It is just a shortcut for

make all
make install

merkinmuffley

aha... cool. good thing to know. but, I've gotta say I wouldn't personally use that approach when installing PHP, since during "make" there can be errors that you need to notice. If, for instance, you're compiling in some module like oci8, and some error occurs because some library wasn't located... you'll save yourself from installing a broken PHP module if you check the output from "make" before installing.
</rant>

anyway hope all this works out for ya

/nick

scottcarpenter

Nick, just wanted to thank you for the tips/help on building PHP as an Apache module with OCI8. It works GREAT now. I did not know about the --with-apxs stuff. I assume this is the line that directs the compiler/linker to build an Apache module, as well as, a stand-alone app for php. It has been a LOOOOOOONG time since I did any Linux development builds. I played with some of the early Slackware stuff before Apache was mainstream and it was still called just httpd. Have a good rest of the week.

merkinmuffley

any time.