Cobalt RAQ4 comes with Apache/PHP4.1.2 pre-packaged. How do we debug
PHP code in this system? The PHP is compiled with --dable-debug flag.
My situation is that, I have some PHP scripts that runs just fine, but
some others just simply gives Segmentation Violation when run either
from web-browser or from command line. How do I go about debuggint
this problem?

-Srinivas

Hi srinivas,


   According to the php.net site, PHP 3 includes support for a
network-based debugger. PHP 4 does not have an internal debugging
facility.
(Source :: http://www.php.net/manual/en/debugger.php)

   However, you need not despair. There are external debuggers
available. I've listed a few -


DBG (Free)
http://dd.cron.ru/dbg/
The DBG Php Debugger is a comprehensive software tool that helps you
debugging your php scripts. It may work with your production or
development WEB


PHPEd (Free)
http://www.soysal.com/PHPEd/
PHPEd is a php development environment for Win32, both to write and
debug your scripts


Zend Studio ($195 Basic, $249 PLUS)
http://www.zend.com/store/products/zend-studio.php
A complete environment for developing, debugging and deploying PHP
applications in one integrated package


Komodo ($295 for a user licesne, $29.50 for non-commercial license)
http://www.activestate.com/Products/Komodo/
Komodo is a high-productivity, integrated development environment
(IDE) for open source technologies and XSLT programming, available for
Linux and Windows. It is optimized for programming languages including
Perl, PHP, Python, and Tcl, and also features cutting-edge XSLT
editing and debugging capabilities.



I hope this answers your question. Have a good day :-)

Cheers,
aditya2k

Search Terms
cobalt php debugging
php debugger
how+ debug php scripts

---

Request for Answer Clarification by bsrinivas-ga on 19 Jun 2002 16:41 PDT

Hi Aditya

Thanks for the quick answer. I am aware of couple of these tools.
And worked with PHPED on development environment. But the problem
is we are using Cobalt RAQ4 that comes with a compiled PHP with
the debug flag off. How do I go about debugging (other than echo'ing)
in this situation?

-Srinivas

---

Request for Answer Clarification by bsrinivas-ga on 19 Jun 2002 16:53 PDT

Hi Aditya

Thanks for the quick answer. I am aware of couple of these tools.
And worked with PHPED on development environment. But the problem
is we are using Cobalt RAQ4 that comes with a compiled PHP with
the debug flag off. How do I go about debugging (other than echo'ing)
in this situation?

-Srinivas

---

Clarification of Answer by aditya2k-ga on 19 Jun 2002 17:05 PDT

Hi Srinivas,


   As a user of PHP myself, I normally use external debuggers.
However, I've come across a HOW-TO for PHP-debugging.
URL : http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/PHP-HOWTO-17.html

   Please let me know if this helps.

Cheers,
aditya2k

Good bit of research on the general debug tools for PHP, but not
specific to what I was looking for in terms of debugging PHP on RAQ4
where PHP comes with pre-packaged. Thanks.

What's the problem? You probably own the Raq, so can't you just simply
recompile PHP? (BTW: is there a flag --dable-debug or you misspelled
it?). You can also install second instance of php as cgi for
debugging...

Yes, was in a hurry and mis-spelled it. 

The problem was php scripts just simply segmentation faults
after running for about 90 seconds (the max time allowed).
Had to spend few hrs. trying to debug this problem.

My clues were found here:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.session-start.php

But debugging the PHP with out tons of ECHO's is not easy
on Cobalt. That is why I was trying to find if there is any
other way to debug the PHP scripts on Cobalt.

Regarding the recompilation. Yes, I sure can do that, but
it is not easy to get the same SRPMs used for building the
RPMs. Apache, ModPerl, PHP comes bundled in one with the
other, and if you have MySQL add another variable to the
list. Even having a testing machine for your RAQ is not
that easy to have in parallel due to this and having the
same production and QA code is next to impossible, if you
read SUN's notice about comiping and putting any code yourself
on the RAQ which basically breaks their license agreement.

For a bigger organization may be that is the only solution.
Have a test machine and compile in your own SRPMs and RPMs
and manage the systems on your own :-)

Thnaks for your reply.

-Srinivas

Recompiling PHP on a RAQ4 isn't that complicated, though it may not be
for the fainthearted.
Have a look at the RAQ boards on http://www.webhostingtalk.com/ and
http://forums.rackshack.net/