Installation on Unix systems

This section will guide you through the general configuration and installation of PHP on Unix systems. Be sure to investigate any sections specific to your platform or web server before you begin the process.

Prerequisite knowledge and software:

• Basic Unix skills (being able to operate "make" and a C compiler, if compiling)

• An ANSI C compiler (if compiling)

• flex (for compiling)

• bison (for compiling)

• A web server

• Any module specific components (such as gd, pdf libs, etc.)

There are several ways to install PHP for the Unix platform, either with a compile and configure process, or through various pre-packaged methods. This documentation is mainly focused around the process of compiling and configuring PHP.

The initial PHP setup and configuration process is controlled by the use of the commandline options of the configure script. This page outlines the usage of the most common options, but there are many others to play with. Check out the Complete list of configure options for an exhaustive rundown. There are several ways to install PHP:

• As an Apache 1.x module or an Apache 2.x module.

• As an Pike module for Caudium

• For use with AOLServer, NSAPI, phttpd, Pi3Web, Roxen, thttpd, or Zeus.

• As a CGI executable

1.  gunzip apache_1.3.x.tar.gz
2.  tar xvf apache_1.3.x.tar
3.  gunzip php-x.x.x.tar.gz
4.  tar xvf php-x.x.x.tar
5.  cd apache_1.3.x
6.  ./configure --prefix=/www
7.  cd ../php-x.x.x
8.  ./configure --with-mysql --with-apache=../apache_1.3.x --enable-ftp
9.  make
10. make install
11. cd ../apache_1.3.x
12. ./configure --activate-module=src/modules/php4/libphp4.a
13. make
14. make install
15. cd ../php-x.x.x
16. cp php.ini-dist /usr/local/lib/php.ini
17. Edit your httpd.conf or srm.conf file and add: 
      AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

18. Use your normal procedure for restarting the Apache server. (You must
    stop and restart the server, not just cause the server to reload by
    use a HUP or USR1 signal.)