Tired of PHP / Apache / etc distribution problems for windows.

[myrddinwylt]

This post is part rant, part question. First ... the rant as this needs to be said ===  badly.

 

What is it with the poorly built distributions for windows.

- No updated PeCL Libraries

- No proper downloadable zip containing everything needed to run the included extensions

- The MSI installer contains more extensions than the ZIP does

- Major changes to the php.ini need to be overwritten with a more bloated php.ini, then dissected for hours running through more comments than functions -- the functions are clearly defined -- no need to have 25 lines to comment "this is the mysql section".

 

Alternatively, you can download a *amp project which is another over-bloated distro which due to customizations makes it a real pain in the arse to setup a more complicated server such as virtual hosting with virtual subdomains, and such and so forth, and still --- the extensions are nerfed.

 

Latest and greatest problem ::

 

Freshly download "STABLE"  (tried all 5.3 Stable Editions on a clean Virtual Machine), extensions such as "php_mhash.dll", and many more.... maybe i will take an hour or so and analyze all the missing extensions --  are missing.  "php_mhash.dll" is included in the MSI Installer --- but....  not in the zips.

 

Next, try to load "php_mbstring.dll" ---  needed for internal language crap, and wham......  CLI error if running "php" in the command prompt -- no error log... nothing... just CLI Error.  Now starting apache trying to load "php_mbstring.dll" --- apache has caused an exception and is now closing.... .WTF ??

 

I understand this is "OpenSource" ... so....  lets try to compile this junk and make a REAL copy on windows ---  well... now....  DOCUMENTATION SUCKS!! ---  Best doc I found is this http://wiki.php.net/internals/windows/stepbystepbuild .... which is great ---  except it doesn't work!!  General statements at the beginning make it so

Building PHP on Windows will require three things

 

  1.

      A properly set up build environment, including a compiler with the right SDK's and some binary tools used by the build system

  2.

      Prebuilt libraries and headers for third party libraries that PHP uses in the correct location

  3.

      The PHP source

 

Installed Visual Studio 2008 Team Suite + Windows SDK, and any other SDK I could grab that seemed somewhat relevent --- still no build ---  WHY you ask ??  Well.. simple....  missing crap ... a whole lot of crap.  But I guess the author of that wiki covered it under #2 above "Prebuilt libraries and headers for third party libraries that PHP uses in the correct location".  What prebuilt libraries ?...  well... I found some of them here http://wiki.php.net/internals/windows/libs .  Not the most convenient to download, but, I have them all thanks to a great app called HTTRack (a site ripper).  Now what ?... Where do I extract these billions of files to ... just a random location inside the PHP SRC folder ?....  doubtful .

 

And then.... to end it all off ---  Anytime I see a simple question posted online --- ANYWHERE --- it's flagged with no answer... just another question "Why do you want to compile on windows" ... or ....  "Just download the ZIP from PHP.NET" ....  ideal to just download the ZIP, but no good if it doesn't work properly.

 

My question is this... and any of these would be a great answer:

 

1. What is the precise data and installation of developer tools, OS, etc required for a successful build of PHP without missing anything --  and if necessary, what libraries need to be downloaded, and where do they go in the PHP SRC tree, with whatever modifications, tools, etc necessary to compile. AKA -- If the PHP SRC is good, then I want a solution that will 100% Compile ---  so pick the OS, Tools, Etc, to compile PHP For Windows, and explain how it should be done step by step.  I don't care what is used to compile, as I own pretty much everything development wise.

 

OR

 

2. Do you know of a good clean 5.3.2 up to date x86 build that doesn't segfault, which has built in support for all of the above, including the horribly outdated PECL (thanks php.net for damning that project to source includes only !!, or the latest windows zip from early 2008).

 

Thank you

 

(ps. I really hate that all the big players except for MySQL make these wonderful MSI files which include a crapload more than their ZIP distros. Why don't they just do flat compiles, and zip that ...  and ONLY that... not make it available only in the MSI )