odds are you're trying just to call variable by it's name (eg $user in file.php?user=joe) and your globals aren't on in php.ini
You could turn on globals, or you could call varibles like this:
$name=$HTTP_GET_VARS['name'];
Or may be, if you compiled it yourself you missed something, but I doubt that since not that many people actually compile themselfs.
Other than these possibilities, I don't see where the problem could be (unless of couse something went wrong during installation or you have corrupted source, in that case I suggest you reinstall php)
cheers,
AlCapone
