Installation Instructions

Anon

Some comments for the PHP community...

I've recently stumbled upon PHP/MySQL. I'm considering a reseller package and they support these products so I thought I'd take a look.

Got a a beginners book (excellent book 'Professional PHP Programming') and started reading. Next, downloaded the php software to install on my WIN98 machine. Thought I'd start with some scripting and eventually get to the MySQL stuff.

I haven't attempted to install it yet. I read through the install instructions. I think their confusing. Granted, I'm a newbie but I'm also a computer consultant with ten years experience on different platforms. This doesn't mean I know anything about the WINDOWS 98 OS nor the registry. Judging by various posts to message boards, I gather others are confused as well.

Is it not possible to write a setup program to correctly automatically install the PHP components and update the registry on the windows platform? There were over 4000 posts to this thread last month. 500,000 sites using PHP and no installation program? I can't believe it's not possible to do...

Anon

yes this is possible and will be done some day i am sure but the developers seem to be focusing on other issues, like bugs and features. there have been many issues with php4 and windows, perhaps they're working on them before a "setup wizard."

anyway, i failed setting up apache/php4 and am okay admitting that. but, in my searchings i found a system that basically automates the installation of apache/php4/mysql on a windows machine, amazingly it worked immediatly. see :

http://www.manucorp.com/easyphp.php3

it's in french but that's okay, squint real hard and you'll figure it out 😉 oh, it installs phpmyadmin too, which worked immediatly as well.

basically, i spent much time going through various "how to install ..." tutorials and since all are geared towards php3, they didn't work. well, they worked for some, not for others. really weird.

also, it looks like a windows apache configuration gui is in the works :

http://sourceforge.net/project/?group_id=5442

download that, install it and it should work. although it's more of a 'learning experience' if it's all done by hand, the above should at least get you going.

enjoy your day,
philip

Anon

Unless your using something like PWS with 98 you shouldn't have any problems installing php3....it really should only take a couple of minutes.

Theres no need to touch the registry with Apache or even IIS. As long as you stick the right files in the right place it should start up second time.......first time rarely works.

Php4....well thats a different story.

scott d~

Anon

so what about linux?????

Anon

Actually, I wrote one a few weeks ago. It installs Apache/PHP/MySQL/PHPMyAdmin. It will only install to c:\apache, because the config files are hard coded, so if you need it in a different location, it won't work. Download at http://www.huntopia.com/phptriad

Anon

Thanks to all who have responded... I failed to mention that I am trying to install php in WIN98 platform with PWS4.0.

I simply want an offline development environment.

Anon

Scott,

Thanks for your input. I am, however, on WIN98/PWS4...

I think I might take a look at writing a little VB app that does the install...

To validate it, I'd want to run the source code by someone... any VB programmers out there that can assist?

Anon

Do you have a reason other than wanting a local environment for using PWS? I built that installer for use on Windows AS a local environment. Using Apache on Windows works, is pretty stable and doesn't mess with the registry; it's all configuration files and the installer has them all set properly. You just run the EXE, start MySQL and Apache and you have a functioning PHP environment. It gives you the "simple offline environment" without having to dink around with the registry. It's a one step installation. I've set up PWS/PHP on several machines and it never works properly the first time. After it is running, it is slow and unstable. I currently have Apache/PHP on 3 machines and they run completely stable and fast.

Anon

You sold me. "I've set up PWS/PHP on several machines and it never works properly the first time. After it is running, it is slow and unstable." I suspected this might be the case.

Based on yours and others comments, I've decided to pursue Apache/PHP config. Thank you for your time and help.

Anon

Wynia, thank you so much for writing this installation package. I can't tell you how thankful I am right now. I have been struggling with the installation of php for
the last 2 weeks before I found this discussion.
I really suggest that you should put a link
possibly in the quickies section of phpbuilder.com to let other newbies know about this wonderful thing!! Thank you once again.