linux php installation

To compile PHP

• $ cd /usr/src
• $ tar -zxvf php-4.3.0.tar.gz
• $ cd /usr/src/php-4.3.0
• $ ./configure –prefix=/wwwroot/php –with-apxs2=/wwwroot/bin/apxs –with-config-file-path=/wwwroot/php –with-mysql
• $ make
• $ make install

Now you have to edit Apache configuration file /wwwroot/conf/httpd.conf.

If  LoadModule php4_module modules/libphp4.so line hasn’t been added by php install to /wwwroot/conf/httpd.conf, then you have to add it yourself. Add it somewhere below section named “Dynamic Shared Object (DSO) Support”

LoadModule php4_module modules/libphp4. Now add this line to /wwwroot/conf/httpd.conf file:

Add Type application/x-httpd-php .php

Start Apache now:

$ /wwwroot/bin/apachectl start

Now create a test PHP file using any text editor and add these lines to it:

Save it under /wwwroot/htdocs as info.php

Now test PHP installation by accessing file info.php:

http://localhost/info.php

Whats UMASK?

UMASK is a UNIX environment variable which automatically sets file permission on newly created files. The UMASK variable can be confusing to use, because it does work as a mask. In other words, you set the permissions that you do not want in the UMASK. To calculate permissions which will result from specific UMASK values, subtract the UMASK from 666 for files and from 777 for directories.

If you want all files created with permissions of 666, set your UMASK to 000. Alternatively, if you want all files created with permissions of 000, set your UMASK to 666.

A reasonable value for UMASK is 022, which will cause files to be created with permissions of 644 (rw-r–r–) and directories to be created with permissions of 755 (rwxr-xr-x). A more secure value for UMASK is 066, which will cause files to be created with permissions of 600 (rw——-) and directories to be created with permissions of 700 (rwx——).

whats ‘mkuser.default’ File?

It’s a linux file which contains the default attributes for new users.   Its directory path is ‘/usr/lib/security/mkuser.default’. This file is part of Base Operating System (BOS) Runtime. This is an ASCII file that contains user stanzas. These stanzas have attribute default values for users created by the mkuser command. Each attribute has the Attribute=Value form. If an attribute has a value of $USER, the mkuser command substitutes the name of the user. The end of each attribute pair and stanza is marked by a new-line character.

There are two stanzas, user and admin, that can contain all defined attributes except the id and admin attributes. The mkuser command generates a unique id attribute. The admin attribute depends on whether the -a flag is used with the mkuser command. For examples:A typical user stanza looks like the following:

user:

   pgroup = staff

   groups = staff

   shell = /usr/bin/ksh

   home = /home/$USER

   auth1 = SYSTEM