[Tip] Compiling php-3.0.14 as a DSO on OpenBSD

Here's how to build php-3.0.14 as a DSO (Dynamically Shared Object) for Apache 1.3.9.

OpenBSD 2.6 includes Apache 1.3.9, with shared object support available. With this in mind, I decided to add PHP as an Apache DSO. For those unfamiliar with this concept, instead of a monolithic static Apache binary, I opted instead to create a dynamic Apache module that can be loaded at runtime. Thanks to work by Kevin Lo , PHP support can be built either from the ports tree , or from source.

As an OpenBSD port

The OpenBSD ports tree is available via anoncvs or you can use the CVSWEB interface to download the Makefile and other files associated with the port.

The port builds without error on 2.6 using the standard OpenBSD ports building method: make && make install Before you build however, it is best to customize the Makefile to your particular needs. Kevin only includes the following options in the standard port:

CONFIGURE_ARGS=         --with-apxs=/usr/sbin/apxs
CONFIGURE_ARGS+=        --without-pcre-regex

To customize this for your site, simply add other configure arguments to the makefile. For instance, if you want MySQL support add:

CONFIGURE_ARGS+=	--with-mysql

Other options can be seen by running ./configure --help in ./work/php-3.0.14 and looking at the available options.

This is the easiest way to add Php support to OpenBSD 2.6.

From Source

Php can be a troubled child for OpenBSD users, often not building well. That is also the case with version 3.0.14. Fortunately, the problem is documented at Php's impressive online bugs database. In a nutshell, attempts to build php-3.0.12-14 will fail with:   Definition of symbol `_pcre_*' (multiply defined) errors. The way to get around this, as documented at php.net is:

1. configure php
   

   ./configure --with-mysql  
   	--with-apxs=/usr/sbin/apxs  
   	--with-config-file-path=/var/www/conf  
   	--with-gd=/usr/local  
   	--without-pcre-regex
   <<This is important
   
   	--with-gdbm  
   	--with-xml  
   	--enable-track-vars  
   	--enable-magic-quotes
   

2. make php

   # make

3. Install php, this will automagically copy the libphp3.so module to the proper directory, and insert the correct AddModule lines in your httpd.conf

   # make install

That's all there is to it. Restart Apache and tail your log file,

# apachectl restart ;tail -f /var/www/log/error_log

and you should see this:

[Thu Jan 13 22:44:46 2000] [notice] Apache/1.3.9 (Unix)
PHP/3.0.14
mod_ssl/2.4.5  
OpenSSL/0.9.4 configured -- resuming normal operations 

That's all there is to it.