Custom PHP.ini tips and tricks

Describes in exhaustive detail how to change configuration settings and implement a custom php.ini file for use with the Apache Web Server.

View latest official php.ini

Sections:

When php run as Apache Module (mod_php)
When php run as CGI
When cgi?d php is run with wrapper (for FastCGI)

Code Snippet from Ultimate htaccess file

### RUN PHP AS APACHE MODULE ###
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .php .htm
 
### RUN PHP AS CGI ###
AddHandler php-cgi .php .htm
 
### CGI PHP WRAPPER FOR CUSTOM PHP.INI ###
AddHandler phpini-cgi .php .htm
Action phpini-cgi /cgi-bin/php5-custom-ini.cgi
 
### FAST-CGI SETUP WITH PHP-CGI WRAPPER FOR CUSTOM PHP.INI ###
AddHandler fastcgi-script .fcgi
AddHandler php-cgi .php .htm
Action php-cgi /cgi-bin/php5-wrapper.fcgi
 
### CUSTOM PHP CGI BINARY SETUP ###
AddHandler php-cgi .php .htm
Action php-cgi /cgi-bin/php.cgi

When php run as Apache Module (mod_php)

in root .htaccess

SetEnv PHPRC /location/todir/containing/phpinifile

When php run as CGI

Place your php.ini file in the dir of your cgi’d php, in this case /cgi-bin/

htaccess might look something like this

AddHandler php-cgi .php .htm
Action php-cgi /cgi-bin/php5.cgi

When php is run as cgi

Create a wrapper script called phpini.cgi to export the directory that contains the php.ini file as PHPRC

#!/bin/sh
export PHPRC=/home/site/askapache.com/inc
exec /user/htdocs/cgi-bin/php5.cgi

In your .htaccess or httpd.conf file

AddHandler php-cgi .php
Action php-cgi /cgi-bin/phpini.cgi

When cgi’d php is run with wrapper (for FastCGI)

NOTE: Custom PHP.ini with FastCGI on DreamHost

You will have a shell wrapper script something like this:

#!/bin/sh
export PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=3
exec /user/htdocs/cgi-bin/php5.cgi

Change To

#!/bin/sh
export PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=3
exec /user/htdocs/cgi-bin/php.cgi -c /home/user/php.ini

NOTES:

Since PHP 5.1.0, it is possible to refer to existing .ini variables from within .ini files. open_basedir = ${open_basedir} ":/new/dir"
In order for PHP to read it, config file must be named php.ini
SetEnv PHPRC only works when using PHP as CGI, not when using php as an Apache Module

Default locations to look for php.ini

PHP looks for custom php.ini in this order

In the Current working directory
1. Place your php.ini in the same directory as the php executable.
2. If php executable is here: /home/user1/htdocs/cgi-bin/
3. then place your php.ini file here: /home/user1/htdocs/cgi-bin/php.ini
In the path specified by the environment variable PHPRC
1. If you can use SetEnv in .htaccess files–> in the root .htaccess file specify the path to the directory containing php.ini SetEnv PHPRC /home/user1
2. If you can’t use SetEnv and you are using a wrapper shell script place this in your wrapper shell script export PHPRC=/home/user1
In the path that was defined at compile time with –with-config-file-path
- The path in which the php.ini file is looked for can be overridden using the -c argument in command line mode. (cgi) /home/user1/htdocs/cgi-bin/php.cgi -c /home/user1/php.ini
- With this option one can either specify a directory where to look for php.ini or you can specify a custom INI file directly (which does not need to be named php.ini),$ php -c /custom/directory/custom-file.ini my_script.php
- Under Windows, the compile-time path is the Windows directory. Place php.ini in one of the directories, C:\windows or C:\winnt

From: PHP Runtime Configuration

php.ini is searched for by php in these locations in this order

SAPI module specific location
- PHPIniDir directive in Apache 2
- -c command line option in CGI and CLI
- php_ini parameter in NSAPI
- PHP_INI_PATH environment variable in THTTPD
The PHPRC environment variable (Before PHP 5.2.0 this was checked after the registry key mentioned below.)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PHP\IniFilePath (Windows Registry location)
Current working directory (for CLI)
The web server’s directory (for SAPI modules)
Directory of PHP (If Windows)
Windows directory (C:\windows or C:\winnt)
–with-config-file-path compile time option

NOTE: The Apache web server changes the directory to root at startup causing PHP to attempt to read php.ini from the root filesystem if it exists. If php-SAPI.ini exists (where SAPI is used SAPI, so the filename is e.g. php-cli.ini or php-apache.ini), it’s used instead of php.ini. SAPI name can be determined by php_sapi_name(). You can use also use the predefined PHP_SAPI constant instead of php_sapi_name()

If your server is running Windows click here

Directions for custom php.ini for Powweb Customers

Specific to Powweb, but can be used elsewhere. In the folder above the htdocs (your ROOT) for the domain you want a custom php.ini file for, create an htaccess file with the following content

SetEnv PHPRC /home/users/web/bEXAMPLE/pow.EXAMPLE

Then create a blank php.ini also in your ROOT directory (/home/users/web/bEXAMPLE/pow.EXAMPLE). Next copy the powweb php.ini text to your php.ini file and customize it.

You can test to make sure you are using the new php.ini by running phpinfo(); If you want multiple php.ini files, then use .htaccess files to set the PHPRC variable to the directory that the php.ini file you want to use is in.

File structure from ROOT directory

.
|-- site1.com
|   `-- htdocs
|   |   |-- cgi-bin
|   |   |   `-- dl.cgi
|   |   `-- index.html
|   |-- phpsessions
|   |-- php.ini
|   `-- .htaccess
|-- site2.org
|   `-- htdocs
|   |   |-- cgi-bin
|   |   |   `-- dl.cgi
|   |   `-- index.html
|   |-- phpsessions
|   |-- php.ini
|   `-- .htaccess
`-- site3.net
    `-- htdocs
    |   |-- cgi-bin
    |   |   `-- dl.cgi
    |   `-- index.html
    |-- phpsession
    |-- php.ini
    `-- .htaccess

Remember to chmod 640 all .htaccess files, chmod 600 your php.ini files, chmod 600 your php flies, and chmod 705 your cgi scripts.. if you don’t want ftp users to be able to change the file than chmod 400.

What’s the difference between PHP-CGI and PHP as an Apache module?

The benefits of running PHP-CGI are:

It is more secure. The PHP runs as your user rather than dhapache. That means you can put your database passwords in a file readable only by you and your php scripts can still access it!
It is more flexible. Because of security concerns when running PHP as an Apache module, we disabled commands with the non-CGI PHP. This will cause install problems with certain popular PHP scripts if you run PHP not as a CGI!
It’s just as fast as running PHP as an Apache module, and we include more default libraries.

The drawbacks to running PHP-CGI. They are:

Custom 404 pages won’t work for .php files with PHP-CGI. Or will they?
Variables in the URL which are not regular ?foo=bar variables won’t work without using (mod_rewrite) (example.com/blah.php/username/info/variable).
Custom php directives in .htaccess files (php_include_dir /home/user;/home/user/example_dir) won’t work.
The $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'] variable will return the php.cgi binary rather than the name of your script
Persistant database connections will not work. PHP’s mysql_pconnect() function will just open a new connection because it can’t find a persistant one.

If one of those is a show-stopper for you, you can easily switch to running PHP as an Apache module and not CGI, but be prepared for a bunch of potential security and ease-of-use issues! If you don’t know what any of these drawbacks mean, you’re fine just using the default setting of PHP-CGI and not worrying about anything!

The configuration file The configuration file (called php3.ini in PHP 3, and simply php.ini as of PHP 4) is read when PHP starts up. For the server module versions of PHP, this happens only once when the web server is started. For the CGI and CLI version, it happens on every invocation.

Running PHP as an Apache module

When using PHP as an Apache module, you can also change the configuration settings using directives in Apache configuration files (e.g. httpd.conf) and .htaccess files. You will need “AllowOverride Options” or “AllowOverride All” privileges to do so.

With PHP 4 and PHP 5, there are several Apache directives that allow you to change the PHP configuration from within the Apache configuration files.

NOTE: With PHP 3, there are Apache directives that correspond to each configuration setting in the php3.ini name, except the name is prefixed by “php3_”.

php_value name value
Sets the value of the specified directive. Can be used only with PHP_INI_ALL and PHP_INI_PERDIR type directives. To clear a previously set value use none as the value.

NOTE: Don’t use php_value to set boolean values. php_flag (see below) should be used instead.

php_flag name on|off
Used to set a boolean configuration directive. Can be used only with PHP_INI_ALL and PHP_INI_PERDIR type directives.

php_admin_value name value
Sets the value of the specified directive. This can not be used in .htaccess files. Any directive type set with php_admin_value can not be overridden by .htaccess or virtualhost directives. To clear a previously set value use none as the value.

php_admin_flag name on|off
Used to set a boolean configuration directive. This can not be used in .htaccess files. Any directive type set with php_admin_flag can not be overridden by .htaccess or virtualhost directives.

Apache configuration example

<IfModule mod_php5.c>
  php_value include_path ".:/usr/local/lib/php"
  php_admin_flag safe_mode on
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_php4.c>
  php_value include_path ".:/usr/local/lib/php"
  php_admin_flag safe_mode on
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_php3.c>
  php3_include_path ".:/usr/local/lib/php"
  php3_safe_mode on
</IfModule>

How to change configuration settings

Changing PHP configuration via the Windows registry

When running PHP on Windows, the configuration values can be modified on a per-directory basis using the Windows registry. The configuration values are stored in the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\PHP\Per Directory Values, in the sub-keys corresponding to the path names. For example, configuration values for the directory c:\inetpub\wwwroot would be stored in the key HKLM\SOFTWARE\PHP\Per Directory Values\c\inetpub\wwwroot. The settings for the directory would be active for any script running from this directory or any subdirectory of it. The values under the key should have the name of the PHP configuration directive and the string value. PHP constants in the values are not parsed. However, only configuration values changeable in PHP_INI_USER can be set this way, PHP_INI_PERDIR values can not.

Other interfaces to PHP

Regardless of how you run PHP, you can change certain values at runtime of your scripts through ini_set().

If you are interested in a complete list of configuration settings on your system with their current values, you can execute the phpinfo() function, and review the resulting page. You can also access the values of individual configuration directives at runtime using ini_get() or get_cfg_var().

Changing php settings with .htaccess or httpd.conf

add settings to a .htaccess file with ‘php_flag’ like this:

php_flag register_globals off
php_flag magic_quotes_gpc on

In .htaccess, only true/false on/off flags can be set using php_flag. To set other values you need to use php_value, like this:

php_value upload_max_filesize 20M

PHP_INI_SYSTEM can be configured per-directory by placing it inside a per-directory block in httpd.conf

# Selectively enable APC for wildly popular directories
# apc.enabled is Off in php.ini to reduce memory use
<Directory /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/forum>
  php_flag apc.enabled On
</Directory>

NOTE: In order for these settings to work in your htaccess file, you will need to add “Options” to your AllowOverride specifications for the directory/webserver if it’s not already allowed.

Installed as CGI binary

One of the most common reasons why you get 'No input file specified' (AKA 'the second most useful error message in the world') is that you have set 'doc_root' (in php.ini) to a value which is to the 'DocumentRoot' defined in the apache configuration.
 
This is the same for other webservers. For example, on lighttpd, make sure the 'server.document-root' value is the same as what is defined as 'doc_root' in php.ini.

Download PHP.ini files

Some links to articles and manual pages about using php as a cgi and as an Apache module.

One of the most common reasons why you get ‘No input file specified’ (AKA ‘the second most useful error message in the world’) is that you have set ‘doc_root’ (in php.ini) to a value which is to the ‘DocumentRoot’ defined in the apache configuration.

This is the same for other webservers. For example, on lighttpd, make sure the ’server.document-root’ value is the same as what is defined as ‘doc_root’ in php.ini.
In response to grange at club-internet dot fr:

There are a couple of errors in the mod_rewrite directives given. I found that the following works:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{ENV:REDIRECT_STATUS} !200
RewriteRule ^cgi-bin/php.cgi - [F]

I removed the = from the RewriteCond and took out the leading / from the RewriteRule.
I have noticed that some people have noted that running PHP as a CGI program can run slowly compared with a compiled in module. Some have noted that they want to use FastCGI but are hesitant. I found that using the Apache 2’s CGID module was a great way to speed up performance almost to the same level as an “so”-installed PHP module but you get the added benefit of running each virtual host under it’s own user and group.

In my testing I got 44 pages per second using PHP as a module and I got roughly the same performance (within 5%) running PHP as a CGI program through CGID.

CGID is also really easy to set up. Just add –enable-cgid to your Apache configure command and you’re good to go. Just set up PHP as a CGI normally.

I’m sure that there’s extra RAM used for this method but RAM is as cheap as borscht anyways so it shouldn’t be a major factor when trying to speed up PHP CGI.
Here are my two cents of knowledge about php-cgi when running CGI script from prompt:

If you get the “No input file specified.” error, create the environment variable “SCRIPT_FILENAME=C:\files\test.php”.

If you get “Security Alert!” error and it tells you to create the REDIRECT_STATUS environment variable, it is because you have the SERVER_NAME variable set but not the REDIRECT_STATUS variable.

Hence, if you have SERVER_NAME, you also need REDIRECT_STATUS, but not otherwise.

And you pretty much should have SCRIPT_FILENAME at all time.
–enable-force-cgi-redirect won’t work in FastCGI mode : as of 4.3.10, it is only supported in CGI mode.

However, you can achieve the same result with mod_rewrite under Apache :

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{ENV:REDIRECT_STATUS} !=200
RewriteRule /cgi-bin/path/to/php - [F]

This will only allow internal redirection, thus forbidding direct HTTP access to php interpreter (http://www.exemple.com/cgi-bin/path/to/php).
PHP CGI with VirtualHosts.

This is what I found out while trying to get php to work as CGI with Apache VirtualHosts.

By enabling ‘force-cgiredirects’, you *must*:
1) set ‘cgi.fix_pathinfo=1′ in php.ini
2) leave doc_root commented out (php.ini also)

If you miss item 1, the apache logs will show ‘unexpected T_STRING’ in the php binary.
If you miss item 2, you’ll only see ‘No input file specified.’, instead of the expected output.

You can then turn on the php support for a particular vhost by defining:

Action php-script /cgi-bin/php

inside the corresponding

directive.
PHP works with Apache and suEXEC like this:
(Assuming that suEXEC ist allready installed and working)

Install PHP as CGI binary (e.g. in /usr/local/bin/php)
(compile with –enable-force-cgi-redirect)

Create a Link inside cgi-bin directory to make php-cgi accessable:
cd /usr/local/apache/cgi-bin
ln /usr/local/bin/php php

Edit your httpd.conf file:
AddHandler php4-script .php
Action php4-script /cgi-bin/php
User exampleuser
Group examplegroup
…
Restart Apache

PHP-scripts are now called under the user-id of exampleuser and group-id of examplegroup.
a replacement for suexec is suphp (http://www.suphp.org).

“suPHP is a tool for executing PHP scripts with the permissions of their owners. It consists of an Apache module (mod_suphp) and a setuid root binary (suphp) that is called by the Apache module to change the uid of the process executing the PHP interpreter.” (from the website)
I have setup a guide to installing PHP with SuEXEC in such a way that shebangs (!#/usr/bin/php4) are not needed. Hope this is of some help to you.
A tip for Windows-users

Just a tip for you so do not do the same mistake as I did:
I just found out that PHP first seem to look in the php-directory for php.ini, and if that file does not exist, it looks in the Windows directory.
I renamed the file php.ini-dist to php.ini and copied it to my Windows directory, and then I modified the infamous “cgi.force_redirect = 0″ in the php.ini file located in the Windows directory, to make it work. But it did not because it reads from the “original” php.ini - So when I deleted this php.ini things started working again
If you are using php per cgi and have additionally mod_gzip enabled you have to disable mod_gzip for the php cgi binary to use –enable-cgi-redirect. mod_gzip sets the REDIRECT_STATUS always to 200 which makes it impossible for the php binary to know when it was called directly or when it was called by a redirect.
To use php-cgi with suexec it will be nice that each virtual host has ist’s own php.ini. This goes with :

SetEnv PHPRC /var/www/server/www.test.com/conf

But suexec will kill this enviromet cause It don’t know that it is “save” so you must edit the suexec.c for compiling ….
When using php in cgi mode, it’s often a good idea to take a look at the apache suexec feature in addition to the –force-cgi-redirect option.

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/suexec.html
If you do virutal hosting, you can turn safe mode on and off for different Apache Virutal Hosts using the php_admin_value directive. This also allows you to have customised maximum execution times, disabled functions, etc; anything which is set in php.ini. Note that by placing a base_dir for each virutal host, this means PHP CANNOT access files below this heirachy; strongly recomended for customer hosting.

Example (httpd.conf):

[VirtualHost 127.0.0.1:80]
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/safephphost/
ServerName safephp
php_admin_value safe_mode 1
php_admin_value open_base_dir /var/www/html/safephphost/
php_admin_value sendmail_from phobo#paradise.net.nz
[/VirtualHost]

Am not sure which versions this started working with but does with Apache 1.3.19/PHP4.04pl1.
If you care about security, you are better of setting

register_globals = off
enable_track_vars = on (Always on from PHP4.0.3)

Default setting for variable order is
EGPCS
(ENV VARS/GET VARS/POST VARS/COOKIE VARS/SESSION VARS)

Imagine if you are rely on ENV VAR but it was orver written with GET/POST/COOKIE vars?
If you want to use suexec and reference your php interpreter via #!/usr/local/bin/php, be shure to compile php WITHOUT –enable-force-cgi-redirect.

This might seems obvious, but I spent 2 days on this :-(
The configuration option ‘–enable-force-cgi-redirect’ is supported by Zeus Web Server 3.3.8.2 (at least, that’s what I’ve tried it on - it make work on previous versions).
suEXEC require CGI mode, and slow down the scripts. I did them like this:
1. Install php as DSO mode. (for max speed and low secure)
2. Make a seperate CGI install with –enable-force-cgi-redirect, place php to cgi-bin
3 For more secure with suEXEC, choose one of the following method:
3-1: Place a .htaccess file containing this to override main config:
AddType application/x-httpd-wphp php
Action application/x-httpd-wphp /cgi-bin/php
All php files in subdirectory will be protected.
3-2: add following in httpd.conf:
AddType application/x-httpd-wphp sphp

Action application/x-httpd-wphp /cgi-bin/php
then each sensitive php file should be renamed to .sphp

Add “php_value doc_root /home/user/html_docs” to each virtual host directive in httpd.conf
another clean solution is to hack suexec.c of apache
and force all .php scripts to be executed with php compiled
in cgi mode.

suexec.c
in place
if (!(prg_info.st_mode & S_IXUSR)) {
just
if (!(prg_info.st_mode & S_IXUSR) & (strstr(cmd, “.php”) == NULL)) {
in place
execv(cmd, &argv[3]);
just
if (strstr(cmd, “.php”)) execl(”/usr/local/bin/php”, “php”, cmd, NULL);
else execv(cmd, &argv[3]);
Better yet, use binfmt_misc: (linux only)

echo :php3:E::php3::/usr/bin/php: > /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/register

Eliminates the need for the #! at the top of the file.

cgi.fix_pathinfo Provides real PATH_INFO/PATH_TRANSLATED support for CGI. PHP’s previous behaviour was to set PATH_TRANSLATED to SCRIPT_FILENAME, and to not grok what PATH_INFO is. For more information on PATH_INFO, see the cgi specs. Setting this to 1 will cause PHP CGI to fix it’s paths to conform to the spec. A setting of zero causes PHP to behave as before. Default is zero. You should fix your scripts to use SCRIPT_FILENAME rather than PATH_TRANSLATED.

cgi.force_redirect gi.force_redirect is necessary to provide security running PHP as a CGI under most web servers. Left undefined, PHP turns this on by default. You can turn it off at your own risk.

cgi.redirect_status_env If cgi.force_redirect is turned on, and you are not running under Apache or Netscape (iPlanet) web servers, you may need to set an environment variable name that PHP will look for to know it is OK to continue execution.

NOTE: Setting this variable may cause security issues, know what you are doing first.

fastcgi.impersonate FastCGI under IIS (on WINNT based OS) supports the ability to impersonate security tokens of the calling client. This allows IIS to define the security context that the request runs under. mod_fastcgi under Apache does not currently support this feature (03/17/2002) Set to 1 if running under IIS. Default is zero.

PHP.ini stuff

allow_call_time_pass_reference
allow_url_fopen
allow_url_include
always_populate_raw_post_data
apc.cache_by_default
apc.enabled
apc.enable_cli
apc.file_update_protection
apc.filters
apc.gc_ttl
apc.max_file_size
apc.mmap_file_mask
apc.num_files_hint
apc.optimization
apc.shm_segments
apc.shm_size
apc.slam_defense
apc.ttl
apc.user_entries_hint
apc.user_ttl
apd.dumpdir
apd.statement_tracing
arg_separator.input
arg_separator.output
asp_tags
assert.active
assert.bail
assert.callback
assert.quiet_eval
assert.warning
auto_append_file
auto_detect_line_endings
auto_globals_jit
auto_prepend_file
bcmath.scale
bcompiler.enabled
birdstep.max_links
blenc.key_file
browscap
cgi.discard_path
cgi.fix_pathinfo
cgi.force_redirect
cgi.nph
cgi.redirect_status_env
cgi.rfc2616_headers
child_terminate
com.allow_dcom
com.autoregister_casesensitive
com.autoregister_typelib
com.autoregister_verbose
com.code_page
com.typelib_file
crack.default_dictionary
daffodildb.default_host
daffodildb.default_password
daffodildb.default_socket
daffodildb.default_user
daffodildb.port
date.default_latitude
date.default_longitude
date.sunrise_zenith
date.sunset_zenith
date.timezone
dba.default_handler
dbx.colnames_case
default_charset
default_mimetype
default_socket_timeout
define_syslog_variables
disable_classes
disable_functions
display_errors
display_startup_errors
docref_ext
docref_root
doc_root
enable_dl
engine
error_append_string
error_log
error_prepend_string
error_reporting
exif.decode_jis_intel
exif.decode_jis_motorola
exif.decode_unicode_intel
exif.decode_unicode_motorola
exif.encode_jis
exif.encode_unicode
expect.logfile
expect.loguser
expect.timeout
expose_php
extension_dir
fastcgi.impersonate
fastcgi.logging
fbsql.allow_persistent
fbsql.autocommit
fbsql.batchsize
fbsql.default_database
fbsql.default_database_password
fbsql.default_host
fbsql.default_password
fbsql.default_user
fbsql.generate_warnings
fbsql.max_connections
fbsql.max_links
fbsql.max_persistent
fbsql.max_results
file_uploads
filter.default
filter.default_flags
from
highlight.bg
highlight.comment
highlight.default
highlight.html
highlight.keyword
highlight.string
html_errors
http.allowed_methods
http.allowed_methods_log
http.cache_log
http.composite_log
http.etag_mode
http.force_exit
http.ob_deflate_auto
http.ob_deflate_flags
http.ob_inflate_auto
http.ob_inflate_flags
http.only_exceptions
http.redirect_log
hyperwave.allow_persistent
hyperwave.default_port
ibase.allow_persistent
ibase.dateformat
ibase.default_charset
ibase.default_db
ibase.default_password
ibase.default_user
ibase.max_links
ibase.max_persistent
ibase.timeformat
ibase.timestampformat
ibm_db2.binmode
ibm_db2.instance_name
iconv.input_encoding
iconv.internal_encoding
iconv.output_encoding
ifx.allow_persistent
ifx.blobinfile
ifx.byteasvarchar
ifx.charasvarchar
ifx.default_host
ifx.default_password
ifx.default_user
ifx.max_links
ifx.max_persistent
ifx.nullformat
ifx.textasvarchar
ignore_repeated_errors
ignore_repeated_source
ignore_user_abort
implicit_flush
include_path
ingres.allow_persistent
ingres.blob_segment_length
ingres.cursor_mode
ingres.default_database
ingres.default_password
ingres.default_user
ingres.max_links
ingres.max_persistent
ingres.report_db_warnings
ingres.timeout
ingres.trace_connect
ircg.control_user
ircg.keep_alive_interval
ircg.max_format_message_sets
ircg.shared_mem_size
ircg.work_dir
last_modified
ldap.max_links
log_errors
log_errors_max_len
magic_quotes_gpc
magic_quotes_runtime
magic_quotes_sybase
mail.force_extra_parameters
mailparse.def_charset
maxdb.default_db
maxdb.default_host
maxdb.default_pw
maxdb.default_user
maxdb.long_readlen
max_execution_time
max_input_time
mbstring.detect_order
mbstring.encoding_translation
mbstring.func_overload
mbstring.http_input
mbstring.http_output
mbstring.internal_encoding
mbstring.language
mbstring.script_encoding
mbstring.strict_detection
mbstring.substitute_character
mcrypt.algorithms_dir
mcrypt.modes_dir
memory_limit
mime_magic.debug
mime_magic.magicfile
msql.allow_persistent
msql.max_links
msql.max_persistent
mssql.allow_persistent
mssql.batchsize
mssql.charset
mssql.compatability_mode
mssql.connect_timeout
mssql.datetimeconvert
mssql.max_links
mssql.max_persistent
mssql.max_procs
mssql.min_error_severity
mssql.min_message_severity
mssql.secure_connection
mssql.textlimit
mssql.textsize
mssql.timeout
mysql.allow_persistent
mysql.connect_timeout
mysql.default_host
mysql.default_password
mysql.default_port
mysql.default_socket
mysql.default_user
mysql.max_links
mysql.max_persistent
mysql.trace_mode
mysqli.default_host
mysqli.default_port
mysqli.default_pw
mysqli.default_socket
mysqli.default_user
mysqli.max_links
mysqli.reconnect
namazu.debugmode
namazu.lang
namazu.loggingmode
namazu.sortmethod
namazu.sortorder
nsapi.read_timeout
oci8.default_prefetch
oci8.max_persistent
oci8.old_oci_close_semantics
oci8.persistent_timeout
oci8.ping_interval
oci8.privileged_connect
oci8.statement_cache_size
odbc.allow_persistent
odbc.check_persistent
odbc.defaultbinmode
odbc.defaultlrl
odbc.default_db
odbc.default_pw
odbc.default_user
odbc.max_links
odbc.max_persistent
opendirectory.max_refs
opendirectory.separator
open_basedir
oracle.allow_persistent
oracle.max_links
oracle.max_persistent
output_buffering
output_handler
pdo_odbc.connection_pooling
pfpro.defaulthost
pfpro.defaultport
pfpro.defaulttimeout
pfpro.proxyaddress
pfpro.proxylogon
pfpro.proxypassword
pfpro.proxyport
pgsql.allow_persistent
pgsql.auto_reset_persistent
pgsql.ignore_notice
pgsql.log_notice
pgsql.max_links
pgsql.max_persistent
post_max_size
precision
printer.default_printer
realpath_cache_size
realpath_cache_ttl
register_argc_argv
register_globals
register_long_arrays
report_memleaks
report_zend_debug
runkit.internal_override
runkit.superglobal
safe_mode
safe_mode_allowed_env_vars
safe_mode_exec_dir
safe_mode_gid
safe_mode_include_dir
safe_mode_protected_env_vars
sendmail_from
sendmail_path
serialize_precision
session.auto_start
session.bug_compat_42
session.bug_compat_warn
session.cache_expire
session.cache_limiter
session.cookie_domain
session.cookie_lifetime
session.cookie_path
session.cookie_secure
session.entropy_file
session.entropy_length
session.gc_divisor
session.gc_maxlifetime
session.gc_probability
session.hash_bits_per_character
session.hash_function
session.name
session.referer_check
session.save_handler
session.save_path
session.serialize_handler
session.use_cookies
session.use_only_cookies
session.use_trans_sid
session_pgsql.create_table
session_pgsql.db
session_pgsql.disable
session_pgsql.failover_mode
session_pgsql.gc_interval
session_pgsql.keep_expired
session_pgsql.sem_file_name
session_pgsql.serializable
session_pgsql.short_circuit
session_pgsql.use_app_vars
session_pgsql.vacuum_interval
short_open_tag
simple_cvs.authMethod
simple_cvs.compressionLevel
simple_cvs.cvsRoot
simple_cvs.host
simple_cvs.moduleName
simple_cvs.userName
simple_cvs.workingDir
SMTP
smtp_port
soap.wsdl_cache_dir
soap.wsdl_cache_enabled
soap.wsdl_cache_ttl
sql.safe_mode
sqlite.assoc_case
sybase.allow_persistent
sybase.compatability_mode
sybase.interface_file
sybase.max_links
sybase.max_persistent
sybase.min_error_severity
sybase.min_message_severity
sybct.allow_persistent
sybct.deadlock_retry_count
sybct.hostname
sybct.login_timeout
sybct.max_links
sybct.max_persistent
sybct.min_client_severity
sybct.min_server_severity
sybct.packet_size
sybct.timeout
sysvshm.init_mem
tidy.clean_output
tidy.default_config
track_errors
unicode.fallback_encoding
unicode.from_error_mode
unicode.from_error_subst_char
unicode.http_input_encoding
unicode.output_encoding
unicode.runtime_encoding
unicode.script_encoding
unicode_semantics
unserialize_callback_func
upload_max_filesize
upload_tmp_dir
url_rewriter.tags
user_agent
user_dir
valkyrie.auto_validate
valkyrie.config_path
variables_order
xbithack
xmlrpc_errors
xmlrpc_error_number
xmms.path
xmms.session
y2k_compliance
yaz.keepalive
yaz.log_file
yaz.log_mask
yaz.max_links
zend.ze1_compatibility_mode
zlib.output_compression
zlib.output_compression_level
zlib.output_handler

php htaccess php-ini

Vijay Modi
09.04.07 at 2:18 am

hi,

Really very nice article.
You can find another one on the following link:
http://vijaymodi.wordpress.com/2007/03/03/phpini-settings/

Regards,
Vijay Modi

canne
09.10.07 at 10:56 am

PHP5 CGI on top of PHP4 module was a really hard one. By searching around a bit, or quite a lot, I found finally this page “Custom PHP.ini tips and tricks“. Thanks guys, you really saved my [...]

Prasanna
10.15.07 at 4:00 am

Hi,

I am using PHP through Apache. I need to include dynamic extensions in PHP (ssh2.so).

All i need to know is how to specify the custom php.ini path while starting php through Apache.

Also i tried SetEnv PHPRC /home/users/web/bEXAMPLE/pow.EXAMPLE in .htaccess file and give All permission in httpd.conf file.

I am not clear in using PHPRC variable and how to use. Please clarify me

My versions:
Apache: 2.0.4.7
PHP:5.2.4

Prasanna
10.16.07 at 1:31 am

I got this by adding a line PHPINIDir "conf" in httpd.conf file.

And created a directory "conf" under ServerRoot and place the file php.ini under that directory.

Now the default php.ini is getting override by the file(php.ini) which i kept under ServerRoot/conf directory.

Now i can able to load dynamic extensions in PHP through Apache module.

Thanks for your help.

Prasanna

AskApache
11.01.07 at 11:24 pm

@ Prasanna

Very cool. Thanks for that!

Peter Parker
02.29.08 at 11:11 am

Nice Article. It pointed in the right direction. Just wanna ask how can i restrict users in changing “php_ini_system” directives if i set setenv phprc /user/home/directory/php.ini? And will only allow php_ini_all and php_ini_perdir directives?

Custom PHP.ini tips and tricks

Sections:

Code Snippet from Ultimate htaccess file

When php run as Apache Module (mod_php)

When php run as CGI

When php is run as cgi

When cgi’d php is run with wrapper (for FastCGI)

Default locations to look for php.ini

PHP looks for custom php.ini in this order

php.ini is searched for by php in these locations in this order

Directions for custom php.ini for Powweb Customers

File structure from ROOT directory

What’s the difference between PHP-CGI and PHP as an Apache module?

The benefits of running PHP-CGI are:

The drawbacks to running PHP-CGI. They are:

The configuration file The configuration file (called php3.ini in PHP 3, and simply php.ini as of PHP 4) is read when PHP starts up. For the server module versions of PHP, this happens only once when the web server is started. For the CGI and CLI version, it happens on every invocation.

Running PHP as an Apache module

Apache configuration example

Changing PHP configuration via the Windows registry

Other interfaces to PHP

Changing php settings with .htaccess or httpd.conf

Installed as CGI binary

Download PHP.ini files

Some links to articles and manual pages about using php as a cgi and as an Apache module.

PHP.ini stuff

Your Thoughts?

6 Responses to “Custom PHP.ini tips and tricks”

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