The title of this article will confuse most of you but I chose it on purpose. I hit a wall last night and couldn't find anything on the web to help me over it.

The Problem

<?PHP
var_dump(set_include_path('./'));

Drop this little piece of code into a file and place it on your web server. What you SHOULD get back is a string describing your old include path. If you get false, you have hit the problem I hit last night. I went so far as to recompile 2 difference versions of Apache thinking (almost correctly) that it was something that had changed in my Apache config files.

The Solution

Like most Apache installs, my development server has a single config file for each domain. (In my case they are all *.dev domains, I don't host any live domains on my cable modem) In each config file, I set not only Apache settings but some defaults for things like php's include path for that domain. Here's an example for my development are for calevans.com

<virtualhost 192.168.0.99:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@dummy-host.example.com
    DocumentRoot /home/calevans.com/public_html
    ServerName www.calevans.dev
    ServerAlias www.calevans.dev calevans.dev
    ErrorLog logs/dummy-host.example.com-error_log
    CustomLog logs/dummy-host.example.com-access_log common
    php_value include_path /usr/local/lib/php:/home/phpinc/:/home/calevans.com/phpinc
</virtualhost>

As you can see, I use php_value to set the default include path. However, for some reason, I had started using php_admin_value to set it and other settings. After 4 long hours of banging my head on this, my friend Davey Shafik [1] popped into #phpwomen (yes, I hang out there...its like taking "Home Economics" in high school, you do it because it's where all the girls are) and said:

[22:54] Davey: I know what it is ;)
[22:54] Davey: php_admin_value include_path
[22:54] Davey: you have that somewhere
[22:55] Davey: you *cannot* override php_admin_value settings

 

Son-of-a-gun if he wasn't right. For some reason I had started using php_admin_value instead of just php_value. php_value can be overridden in your code, however, php_admin_value tells PHP not to allow the value to be overridden.

Why is this important

If you are working with Zend Framework, then this is VERY important. Zend_Loader temporarily modifies the include_path when including things like Controllers. If it can't do so, your apps will fail in a most spectacular way.

Wife 1.24 (The lovely and talented Kathy [2]) says that now I know how everyone else feels when I walk over and solve problems. (I have a tendency to do that and am usually pretty snarky about it when I do)

 

Originally Posted on Postcards From My Life [3]. Used by permission.