In the event that you intend to install PHP on a Linux operating system or any other Unix variant, it is imperative to take into account the following prerequisites:
- The latest PHP source distribution http://www.php.net/downloads.php
- The latest Apache source distribution https://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi
- A working PHP-supported database, if you plan to use one ( For example MySQL, Oracle etc. )
- Any other supported software to which PHP must connect (mail server, BCMath package, JDK, and so forth)
- An ANSI C compiler
- Gnu make utility − you can freely download it at https://www.gnu.org/software/make
Below are the steps to install Apache and PHP on your Linux or Unix computer.
- If you have not yet unzipped the file, proceed to unzip and untar your Apache source distribution. It is recommended that you use the standard location, which is /usr/local, unless there is a specific reason to choose an alternative location.
gunzip -c apache_1.3.x.tar.gz
tar -xvf apache_1.3.x.tar- Build the Apache Server
cd apache_1.3.x
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/apache --enable-so
make
make install- Unzip and untar the downloaded PHP source distribution file to /usr/local.
gunzip -c php-5.x.tar.gz
tar -xvf php-5.x.tar
cd php-5.x- Configure and Build your PHP, assuming you are using MySQL database.
./configure --with-apxs=/usr/sbin/apxs \
--with-mysql=/usr/bin/mysql
make
make install- Install and edit php.ini file to get configuration directives −
cd ../../php-8.x cp php.ini-dist /usr/local/lib/php.ini- Tell your Apache server where you want to serve files from, and what extension(s) you want to identify PHP files A .php is the standard, but you can use .html, .phtml, or whatever you want.
- Go to your HTTP configuration files (/usr/local/apache/conf or whatever your path is)
- Open httpd.conf with a text editor.
- Search for the word DocumentRoot (which should appear twice), and change both paths to the directory you want to serve files out of (in our case, /home/httpd). We recommend a home directory rather than the default /usr/local/apache/htdocs because it is more secure, but it doesn.t have to be in a home directory. You will keep all your PHP files in this directory.
- Add at least one PHP extension directive, as shown in the first line of code that follows. In the second line, we.ve also added a second handler to have all HTML files parsed as PHP.
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
AddType application/x-httpd-php .html- Restart your server. Every time you change your HTTP configuration or php.ini files, you must stop and start your server again.
cd ../bin
./apachectl start- Set the document root directory permissions to world-executable. The actual PHP files in the directory need only be world-readable (644). If necessary, replace /home/httpd with your document root below −
chmod 755 /home/httpd/html/php- Open a text editor. Type: <?php phpinfo(); ?> and save the file in Web server’s document root as info.php.
- Open Web browser and browse the file. You must always use an HTTP request (http://www.testdomain.com/info.php or http://localhost/info.php or http://127.0.0.1/info.php) rather than a filename (/home/httpd/info.php) for the file to be parsed correctly
A table with all the information about your new PHP installation will be displayed. Congratulations!! your server is ready.