Setting Up Database Driven Websites - Installing PHP (Page 5 of 8 )
With Apache installed and working, let's now turn our attention to PHP. Assuming you downloaded it to /tmp, let's get to work on it (you don't need to be root yet):
$ cd /tmp
$ tar -zxvf php-3.0.7.tar.gz
$ cd php-3.0.7
$ ./configure --with-apxs=/usr/local/apache/bin/apxs
--with-config-file-path=/etc/httpd
--with-mysql
--with-system-regex
This configures PHP to compile itself as an Apache DSO module. Configuration files are to be stored in /etc/httpd (along with your Apache configuration files).
After running that configure script, you can build PHP by running make:
$ make
If that completed without errors, you will have to su to root and install PHP:
$ su
# make install
Voila, PHP is magically installed into Apache, it will get enabled next time Apache is started.
Configuring PHP Let's configure PHP, start by copying the PHP configuration file into /etc/httpd.
# cp php3.ini-dist /etc/httpd/php3.ini
The defaults in this file are good enough, but I like the debug messages to be more verbose. Change the error_reporting directive from the default value of 7 to 15:
error_reporting = 15
You can now start Apache again by running:
# /usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl start
No errors means it started up with PHP enabled. Everything working so far? Excellent! Let's do a quick little test page with PHP to make sure it is indeed working.
Testing PHP Create a file in /home/httpd/htdocs called test.php3:
<html>
<head>
<title>My First PHP Page</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor=#ffffff>
<? echo "Hello World"; ?>
</body>
</html>
Save this file, and try to load it up from your web browser. For example:
# lynx http://localhost/test.php3
You should see a page come up with the words Hello World. Now let's get started with a simple web database sample.
Next: Creating the Database >>
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