Installing PHP 5.2.8

PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor. It refers to a scripting language mainly used for server-side scripting and the parser/engine/compiler that processes PHP code. It runs on a web server, taking PHP code as input and returning web pages/HTML as output.

Prerequisites
Web server

Versions used
Apache HTTP server 2.2.8

Steps

• Download the zip package from PHP website, http://www.php.net/downloads.php. The installer package as at version 5.2.6 doesn't seem to install correctly on Vista.
• Create a folder C:\PHP
• Unzip the contents of the zip package to this folder.
• Add C:\php to the path system variable by going to Start → Settings → Control panel → System → Advanced System Settings → Advanced tab → Environment variables
• Restart the computer
• Make a copy of the file php.ini-recommended in C:\PHP and rename the copy as php.ini
• Update the doc_root directive in php.ini file to the DocumentRoot path set in the Apache httpd.conf file e.g. doc_root = C:\Apache\htdocs
• Update the extension_dir directive in php.ini file to extension_dir = C:\PHP\ext
• Update the display_errors directive in php.ini file to display_errors = on
• Update the date.timezone directive in php.ini e.g. date.timezone = Africa/Nairobi
• Update the Apache httpd.conf file by adding the following lines

LoadModule php5_module "C:/php/php5apache2_2.dll" 
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php 
PHPIniDir "C:/php"

• Add index.php to the DirectoryIndex setting of the httpd.conf file i.e. DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
• Restart Apache by going to Start → Programs → Apache HTTP Server 2.2 → Control Apache Server → Restart
• Create a text file named test.php in the Apache document root path. Add the following to the file. <?php phpinfo(); ?>

• Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost/test.php. If a page with PHP configuration information is displayed, the PHP installation and configuration was successful.