Can you override php.ini?

nemonoman

I'm usually the first guy to scream RTFM, but if this is in TFM I haven't F'N seen it.

I'm using a hosting company that provides PHP. They set up the php.ini file and I can't access it.

Is there some sort of command I can use to override individual php.ini settings?

For example, to set register globals off?

Or eve closer to my heart, to increase the timeout setting so I can upload a single MySQL db using phpmyadmin?

Thanks.

Damien_Buttler

You can overwrite many of the php.ini settings with the ini_set() function.

eg. ini_set("register_globals", "1");

Check the function at php.net for a better understanding. Especially for checking if it has worked.

Damien.

feldon23

For example, to set register globals off?

{edit: I'm stupid. I assumed that you wanted to turn globals ON cause that's asked so much here. Never mind. 🙂}

Or eve closer to my heart, to increase the timeout setting so I can upload a single MySQL db using phpmyadmin?

Uploading and downloading large MySQL databases through a browser is prone to problems.

Are you able to telnet in to the server and use mysqldump to export and mysql to import the mysql dbase and then transfer with FTP?

ahundiak

Assuming the hosting company has provided you with an account then the file .htaccess will do what you want.

In $HOME/.htaccess, use:
<IfModule mod_php4.c>
php_flag register_globals off
</IfModule>

.htaccess is also very useful for setting include directory paths.

By the way, ini_set() won't work for setting globals off because by the time the php script is called, the globals will have already been registered.

nemonoman

Thanks all.

I will investigate ini_set(). I vaguely remembered this function but couldn't find it again.

I can't FTP to the mySQL data directory. Must use drop table/create table/insert etc. But I'll see if I can beat the timeout via mysql via telnet. Thanks.

ahundiak, please help me understand the code you've sent by providing another example; how would you change the timeout setting using .htaccess? Thanks.

feldon23

You don't FTP to that directory.

Assuming:
user feldon23
password 12d43f9g
database name foobar
home dir /home/feldon23/www/mybackup.sql

To backup the database, you telnet in and issue these 2 commands:

cd /usr/local/mysql/bin

mysqldump --opt -ufeldon23 -p12d43f9g foobar > /home/feldon23/mybackup.sql

To restore from a database backup, you telnet in and issue these 2 commands:

cd /usr/local/mysql/bin

mysql -ufeldon23 -p12d43f9g foobar < /home/feldon23/mybackup.sql

You do have FTP access to your home directory, right?

ahundiak

In general, you can use .htaccess to override any of the values controlled by php.ini.

php_flag max_execution_time 60

Should set the timeout to 60 seconds.

When you echo out phpinfo, the values shown in the column marked "Local Value" are the ones you can override.

nemonoman

WHOOHOO! You've got to love it when some guy hands you the EXACT ANSWER to a problem!!

Thanks.ahundiak.