Web Database Applications with PHP and MySQL, 2nd Edition

Installing PHP

This section explains how to install PHP 4 (versions later than 4.3) or PHP 5 as a shared module in Apache 2:

1. Once you have installed Apache, you can install the shared PHP module as part of the web server. Login in as the root user.

2. Get the latest version of PHP from http://www.php.net/downloads.php. Download the "Complete Source Code" version into the /tmp directory. Do not download any version earlier than PHP 4.3.0, as this will not work with the latest version of Apache 2. This book uses PHP 4.3.3 and PHP 5.0.0 beta, and we recommend installing the latest stable version at the time of writing.

3. Choose an installation directory. If the Apache installation was begun in /usr/local/, the same location can also be used for PHP. Move the PHP source code file to the base directory of the desired installation. Assuming this is /usr/local/src and, assuming the distribution downloaded is PHP 4.3.3 and it was downloaded into the /tmp directory, the command is:

   %mv php-4.3.3.tar.gz /usr/local/src

4. After moving the distribution to the desired location, change directory to that location using:

   %cd /usr/local/src

5. Uncompress the package in the new installation directory by running:

   %gzip -d php-
                     version_number
                     .tar.gz

   If the version downloaded is PHP 4.3.3, the command is:

   %gzip -d php-4.3.3.tar.gz

6. Un-tar the distribution by running:

   %tar xvf php-
                     version_number
                     .tar

   A list of files extracted is displayed. If the version downloaded is PHP 4.3.3, the command is:

   %tar xvf php-4.3.3.tar

7. Change ...