Is it a common practice for hosting services to block a phpinfo request?

CharlesH

I'm very much a newbie to hosting, php, mysql etc... so I've quite a lot to learn. Anyway, I tried to run a small script containing only the following single line -

<? phpinfo () ?>

I named it "test.php" and ftp'd it to the root of my domain. I then redirected my browser to my homepage and typed in test.php in the address line right after http://www.mysite.com/

The screen comes up blank. So I called my hosting company to find the answer to my question - what version of php & mysql are they using and other things that could affect the compatibility of the software I want to run.

After a bit of persistence I finally got the techie who answered the call to admit that they block this kind of script. Is this a common practice with hosting companies? Or should I be looking for a new hosting service.

Thanks for your time.

LordShryku

It's fairly common. Stupid, but common.

CharlesH

Thanks for the reply. At least I no longer feel the urge to find a new host.

Regards,

Sharif

I'd guess that they do it for your own safety...

CharlesH

I suspect your right. After reviewing the info this file brings up on the apache server I installed for local testing I'm sure that people smarter than I could write some very destructive code.

I searched high and low on my host's site for this info and could not find it anywhere. The only reason I knew that they supported php and mysql to beginwith was that the info was part of their sales pitch to get you to use their services. But nowhere does it even remotely indicate if they were using php 4.3 or 1.0. The same applies for MySQL.

(I'm trying to create a drupal site and there are some significant diffences in how drupal works if you using php 4.3.4 verses 4.3.1.)

Thanks again.

LordShryku

Well, there are other methods to retrieving the information you need. See the PHP Options portion of the manual. One function you could have used was [man]phpversion[/man]

ahundiak

<?php echo phpinfo(); ?>

"No human could stack books like this"

planetsim

ahundiak

doesnt seem you even read this thread at all.. He cannot use that as the host disabled that function

ahundiak

Planetsim,
Sorry about that. I did read the thread but for some reason I thought you needed an echo for the info to come out. But a quick test showed otherwise.