22.3. MySQL PHP API

MySQL 5.0

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22.3. MySQL PHP API

PHP is a server-side, HTML-embedded scripting language that may be used to create dynamic Web pages. It is available for most operating systems and Web servers, and can access most common databases, including MySQL. PHP may be run as a separate program or compiled as a module for use with the Apache Web server.

PHP actually provides two different MySQL API extensions:

  • : Available for PHP versions 4 and 5, this extension is intended for use with MySQL versions prior to MySQL 4.1. This extension does not support the improved authentication protocol used in MySQL 5.0, nor does it support prepared statements or multiple statements. If you wish to use this extension with MySQL 5.0, you will likely want to configure the MySQL server to use the --old-passwords option (see Section A.2.3, “”). This extension is documented on the PHP Web site at http://php.net/mysql.

  • - Stands for “MySQL, Improved”; this extension is available only in PHP 5. It is intended for use with MySQL 4.1.1 and later. This extension fully supports the authentication protocol used in MySQL 5.0, as well as the Prepared Statements and Multiple Statements APIs. In addition, this extension provides an advanced, object-oriented programming interface. You can read the documentation for the extension at http://php.net/mysqli. A helpful article can be found at http://www.zend.com/php5/articles/php5-mysqli.php.

If you're experiencing problems with enabling both the and the extension when building PHP on Linux yourself, see Section 22.3.2, “Enabling Both and in PHP”.

The PHP distribution and documentation are available from the PHP Web site. MySQL provides the and extensions for the Windows operating system for MySQL versions as of 5.0.18 on http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/php/. You can find information why you should preferably use the extensions provided by MySQL on that page.

22.3.1. Common Problems with MySQL and PHP

  • : This is a PHP limit; go into the file and set the maximum execution time up from 30 seconds to something higher, as needed. It is also not a bad idea to double the RAM allowed per script to 16MB instead of 8MB.

  • : This means that your PHP version isn't compiled with MySQL support. You can either compile a dynamic MySQL module and load it into PHP or recompile PHP with built-in MySQL support. This process is described in detail in the PHP manual.

  • : This means that the client library is compiled with support for a compressed client/server protocol. The fix is to add last when linking with .

  • : This is most often encountered when trying to use the older extension with MySQL 4.1.1 and later. Possible solutions are: downgrade to MySQL 4.0; switch to PHP 5 and the newer extension; or configure the MySQL server with . (See Section A.2.3, “”, for more information.)

Those with PHP4 legacy code can make use of a compatibility layer for the old and new MySQL libraries, such as this one: http://www.coggeshall.org/oss/mysql2i.

22.3.2. Enabling Both mysql and mysqli in PHP

If you're experiencing problems with enabling both the and the extension when building PHP on Linux yourself, you should try the following procedure.

  1. Configure PHP like this: 

    ./configure --with-mysqli=/usr/bin/mysql_config --with-mysql=/usr

  2. Edit the and search for a line that starts with . It might look like this (all on one line): 

    EXTRA_LIBS = -lcrypt -lcrypt -lmysqlclient -lz -lresolv -lm -ldl -lnsl
-lxml2 -lz -lm -lxml2 -lz -lm -lmysqlclient -lz -lcrypt -lnsl -lm
-lxml2 -lz -lm -lcrypt -lxml2 -lz -lm -lcrypt

    Remove all duplicates, so that the line looks like this (all on one line): 

    EXTRA_LIBS = -lcrypt -lcrypt -lmysqlclient -lz -lresolv -lm -ldl -lnsl
-lxml2

  3. Build and install PHP: 

    make
make install

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