I installed php 5.1.4, Apache 2.2.2 and mysql 5 on a Fedora Core 5 server. Everything works independently. I even have phpMyAdmin working fine. I finally figured out how to get the --with-mysql in the ./configure list (instead of --without-mysql). Yet when I try the mysql_connect command with a host, username and password, I get an error that it can't connect to the database and it doesn't even use the defined username/password. It says : Access denied for user 'apache'@'localhost' (using password: YES). Where did apache come from? I don't have it anywhere in my code and its not written anywhere in my php.ini file. Why doesn't it respect my username!?!