Help! NEWB need to install PHP4 module to work with Apache 1.3.x

slicemaster101

Well,

I am new to this whole PHP thing and I have been having anxiety attacks over the stupid installation and configuration. I am trying to setup a local apache 1.3.x server with PHP support on a Windows 2000 machine.

Anyways I just can seem to get this PHP crap to work. I think I have installed the module correctly but it just doesn’t work. I have the php4ts.dll and the php4apache.dll module files in “C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache\modules\PHP\” folder and I think I have added the necessary commands to my httpd.conf file to point to the files.

Lines added to httpd.conf file

LoadModule php4_module modules/PHP/php4apache.dll
AddModule mod_php4.c
AddType application/x-hpptd-php .php

Now when I start up apache it says “Apache/1.3.29 <Win32> PHP/4.3.6 Running…”
From what I can gather the PHP module loaded and operating but when I test it by opening up my browser (IE6) and typing “http://127.0.0.1/test.php” in the address bar it immediately pops up a download dialog box rather then displaying the page.

Note test.php contents are as follows:

<html>
<head>
<title>PHP Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php echo '<p>Hello World</p>'; ?>
</body>
</html>

Anyways, I am sure I am missing something… hell I don’t even know what the hell the php.ini file is for? And I don’t know what to do with it or where to put it. In the TERRIBLE installation instructions on the PHP web site and bundled with the distribution it says to either put it in root apache folder “C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache\” or in “C:\WINNT\system32\” folder. !NOTE! I would prefer that all PHP related content be contained in the Apache folder and its sub-folders.

Can you please help me and also explain what the files do? AKA php.ini, php4apache.dll ,and php4ts.dll.

Thanks,
Slice

laserlight

AddType application/x-hpptd-php .php

What if you change that to:
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

You might also need:
Action application/x-httpd-php modules/php/php.exe

slicemaster101

Originally posted by laserlight
What if you change that to:
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

You might also need:
Action application/x-httpd-php modules/php/php.exe

whats the difference between my AddType... and yours? look the same to me...

all the installation information say you only need php.exe if you are installing PHP as a CGI program, and i am not, i am installing it as a module...

and what about php.ini? what is its purpose and why do all the install tutorials say that it must be in c:/winnt/ or something like that? i dont want to make make windows installation dirty with all this stuff...how can i tell php to look for the php.ini file in a specified location?

thanks,

slicemaster101

Well I finally go PHP installed and working… I don’t know what was wrong but I just got so fed up that I reset the apache httpd.conf back to its default settings and then started the installation of PHP from scratch again and all of a sudden it started to work. It must have been a typo or a syntax issue in the httpd.conf or something but I am just happy I got it working now. However I still have the question about the php.ini file. I have figured out that you don’t even need it! It is just for storing you custom settings and if PHP doesn’t find it, it will default to a predefined set of default settings stored within the PHP program itself. But anyways I do want custom settings and I do want to use my custom php.ini but I don’t want PHP to look for it at this location “C:\WINNT\php.ini”! (Ran this script <?php phpinfo(); ?> to find out where PHP was looking for the php.ini file)

But my new question is how do I tell PHP to look for the php.ini file in the location I want it to? Namely “C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache\ or C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache\modules\php\”

Thanks for all the help,
Slice
😃

laserlight

all the installation information say you only need php.exe if you are installing PHP as a CGI program, and i am not, i am installing it as a module...

That's why I said 'might'.

The difference is that "hpptd" != "httpd"

I believe you'll have to set your environment PATH to include the path to php.ini