Troubleshooting the Installation

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The first time I installed PHP, everything appeared to go well. I started the Apache Web server, and it indicated it had started, using the following messages:

 [root@winbook php-3.0.15]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd restart Shutting down http:                                        [  OK  ]  Starting httpd:                                            [  OK  ]

Unfortunately, when I looked for the Web server in the process list (using the ps ax command), it wasn't there. I looked in the error file /var/log/httpd/error_log, and all I found was this:

 [Mon Apr  3 18:30:59 2000] [notice] Apache/1.3.9 (Unix)  (Red Hat/Linux) PHP/3.0.15 configured -- resuming normal operations [Mon Apr  3 20:13:15 2000] [notice] caught SIGTERM, shutting down

The first thing I did was reduce the PHP options to the minimum. I decided I only wanted to see the Web server run with PHP installed. I built PHP with the command line

 ./configure --with-apxs

and then I installed it and ran the Web server. No dice. I then read the instructions in the file in the PHP directory named INSTALL.REDHAT. It put a note in which said "--with-xml is required for Apache 1.3.6 or higher." Doh! After this occurred, the Web server loaded and ran with PHP.

Now I was ready to tackle the rest. I put in the --with-mysql option. Same problem as before. I looked at the INSTALL.REDHAT documentation. No dice. So then I went to the PHP Web page and looked around. There is a FAQ section on the Web site. I went to it and started looking for anything that had "mysql" in it. I found a note about some other problem that mentioned the MySQL option looking like this: " --with-mysql=/usr ". I put that into the command-line option, and it worked!

The point of all of this is to read and reread the documentation carefully when things break. Also, go to the World Wide Web and search for information. If you have no luck, join a mailing list and ask questions. PHP has a very good mailing list that is very helpful. I have used it in the past. The creator of PHP himself pointed out a stupid mistake on my part, without browbeating. Information on how to join that list is at http://www.php.net.

only for RuBoard - do not distribute or recompile