章 49. Build Problems

This section gathers most common errors that occur at build time.

1. I got the latest version of PHP using the anonymous CVS service, but there's no configure script!
2. I'm having problems configuring PHP to work with Apache. It says it can't find httpd.h, but it's right where I said it is!
3. While configuring PHP (./configure), you come across an error similar to the following:
4. When I try to start Apache, I get the the following message:
5. When I run configure, it says that it can't find the include files or library for GD, gdbm, or some other package!
6. When it is compiling the file language-parser.tab.c, it gives me errors that say yytname undeclared.
7. When I run make, it seems to run fine but then fails when it tries to link the final application complaining that it can't find some files.
8. When linking PHP, it complains about a number of undefined references.
9. I can't figure out how to build PHP with Apache 1.3.
10. I have followed all the steps to install the Apache module version on UNIX, and my PHP scripts show up in my browser or I am being asked to save the file.
11. It says to use: --activate-module=src/modules/php4/libphp4.a, but that file doesn't exist, so I changed it to --activate-module=src/modules/php4/libmodphp4.a and it doesn't work!? What's going on?
12. When I try to build Apache with PHP as a static module using --activate-module=src/modules/php4/libphp4.a it tells me that my compiler is not ANSI compliant.
13. When I try to build PHP using --with-apxs I get strange error messages.
14. During make, I get errors in microtime, and a lot of RUSAGE_ stuff.
15. I want to upgrade my PHP. Where can I find the ./configure line that was used to build my current PHP installation?
16. When building PHP with the GD library it either gives strange compile errors or segfaults on execution.

3. While configuring PHP (./configure), you come across an error similar to the following:

checking lex output file root... ./configure: lex: command not found
       configure: error: cannot find output from lex; giving up


Be sure to read the installation instructions carefully and note that you need both flex and bison installed to compile PHP. Depending on your setup you will install bison and flex from either source or a package, such as a RPM.

7. When I run make, it seems to run fine but then fails when it tries to link the final application complaining that it can't find some files.

Some old versions of make that don't correctly put the compiled versions of the files in the functions directory into that same directory. Try running cp *.o functions and then re-running make to see if that helps. If it does, you should really upgrade to a recent version of GNU make.

9. I can't figure out how to build PHP with Apache 1.3.

This is actually quite easy. Follow these steps carefully:

  • Grab the latest Apache 1.3 distribution from http://www.apache.org/dist/.

  • Ungzip and untar it somewhere, for example /usr/local/src/apache-1.3.

  • Compile PHP by first running ./configure --with-apache=/ path /apache-1.3 (substitute path for the actual path to your apache-1.3 directory.

  • Type make followed by make install to build PHP and copy the necessary files to the Apache distribution tree.

  • Change directories into to your / path /apache-1.3/src directory and edit the Configuration file. Add to the file: AddModule modules/php4/libphp4.a.

  • Type: ./Configure followed by make.

  • You should now have a PHP-enabled httpd binary!



Note: You can also use the new Apache ./configure script. See the instructions in the README.configure file which is part of your Apache distribution. Also have a look at the INSTALL file in the PHP distribution.

12. When I try to build Apache with PHP as a static module using --activate-module=src/modules/php4/libphp4.a it tells me that my compiler is not ANSI compliant.

This is a misleading error message from Apache that has been fixed in more recent versions.

13. When I try to build PHP using --with-apxs I get strange error messages.

There are three things to check here. First, for some reason when Apache builds the apxs Perl script, it sometimes ends up getting built without the proper compiler and flags variables. Find your apxs script (try the command which apxs, it's sometimes found in /usr/local/apache/bin/apxs or /usr/sbin/apxs. Open it and check for lines similar to these:

my $CFG_CFLAGS_SHLIB  = ' ';          # substituted via Makefile.tmpl
my $CFG_LD_SHLIB      = ' ';          # substituted via Makefile.tmpl
my $CFG_LDFLAGS_SHLIB = ' ';          # substituted via Makefile.tmpl
If this is what you see, you have found your problem. They may contain just spaces or other incorrect values, such as 'q()'. Change these lines to say:
my $CFG_CFLAGS_SHLIB  = '-fpic -DSHARED_MODULE'; # substituted via Makefile.tmpl
my $CFG_LD_SHLIB      = 'gcc';                   # substituted via Makefile.tmpl
my $CFG_LDFLAGS_SHLIB = q(-shared);              # substituted via Makefile.tmpl
The second possible problem should only be an issue on Red Hat 6.1 and 6.2. The apxs script Red Hat ships is broken. Look for this line:
my $CFG_LIBEXECDIR    = 'modules';         # substituted via APACI install
If you see the above line, change it to this:
my $CFG_LIBEXECDIR    = '/usr/lib/apache'; # substituted via APACI install
Last, if you reconfigure/reinstall Apache, add a make clean to the process after ./configure and before make.

16. When building PHP with the GD library it either gives strange compile errors or segfaults on execution.

Make sure your GD library and PHP are linked against the same depending libraries (e.g. libpng).