Topic: PHP & MySQL

Installation

General Installation steps

The following steps should be performed on all installations before the server specific instructions.

• Extract the distribution file to a directory of your choice. "C:\PHP\" is a good start.

• Copy the file, 'php.ini-dist' to your '%WINDOWS%' directory and rename it to 'php.ini'. Your '%WINDOWS%' directory is typically:

  c:\windows for Windows 95/98

  c:\winnt or c:\winnt40 for NT servers

• Edit your 'php.ini' file:

  • You will need to change the 'extension_dir' setting to point to your php-install-dir, or where you have placed your 'php_*.dll' files. ex: c:\php

  • If you are using Omni Httpd, do not follow the next step. Set the 'doc_root' to point to your webservers document_root. ex: c:\apache\htdocs or c:\webroot

  • Choose which modules you would like to load when PHP starts. You can uncomment the: 'extension=php_*.dll' lines to load these modules. Some modules require you to have additional libraries installed on your system for the module to work correctly. The PHP FAQ has more information on where to get supporting libraries. You can also load a module dynamically in your script using: dl("php_*.dll");

  • On PWS and IIS, you can set the browscap.ini to point to: 'c:\windows\system\inetsrv\browscap.ini' on Windows 95/98 and 'c:\winnt\system32\inetsrv\browscap.ini' on NT Server. Additional information on using the browscap functionality in PHP can be found at this mirror, select the "source" button to see it in action.

The DLLs for PHP extensions are prefixed with 'php_'. This prevents confusion between PHP extensions and their supporting libraries.

To install PHP on an NT Server running IIS 4, follow these instructions:

• In Internet Service Manager (MMC), select the Web site or the starting point directory of an application.

• Open the directory's property sheets (by right clicking and selecting properties), and then click the Home Directory, Virtual Directory, or Directory tab.

• Click the Configuration button, and then click the App Mappings tab.

• Click Add, and in the Executable box, type: c:\path-to-php-dir\php.exe %s %s. You MUST have the %s %s on the end, PHP will not function properly if you fail to do this.

• In the Extension box, type the file name extension you want associated with PHP scripts. (You must repeat step 5 and 6 for each extension you want accociated with PHP scripts. (.php and .phtml are common.)

• Set up the appropriate security. (This is done in Internet Service Manager), and if your NT Server uses NTFS file system, add execute rights for I_USR_ to the directory that contains php.exe.

Installing PHP from other links

For those who are experienced enough to do this yourself, simply head over to PHP.net - Downloads and download the most recent version of PHP.

However, if you are like most of us, you will most likely want to follow a guide to installing PHP onto your computer. These guides are kindly provided by PHP.net based on the operating system that you are using.

• PHP - Windows - Windows Installation Guide
• PHP - Mac - Mac Installation Guide
• PHP - Linux - Linux Installation Guide

Installing MySQL

As we mentioned before, MySQL is not a requirement to use PHP, however they often go hand in hand.

Visit MySQL's MySQL Installation Guide for help on installing MySQL.

If you have any installation troubles you may visit online communities for help on this common problem.

• PHP Builder - A web forum for PHP users.