How to enable php

Question

I am trying to enable php on my macbook with Lion 10.7.  I have found and changed the http.conf file, but I can't save the changes.  My computer tells me I don't have permission, but it doesn't give me any pop up to confirm my permission.  Can anyone help.

Answer 1

Well, first make sure that you are accessing the PHP through the browser with an URL that begins with 'http' or 'https'. If you access it through Finder, or opening it directly in your browser, the web server (that would normally process the PHP script), is completely bypassed.
If that's not the issue, open Terminal.app. Type
grep -i php /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
The result should be
{quote}
LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache2/libphp5.so
{quote}
If you see a '#' at the beginning of the line, the PHP module was disabled. You need to edit /etc/apache2/httpd.conf and remove the '#' (in the terminal, type 'sudo nano /etc/apache2/httpd.conf').
While you are at it, also do
grep -i apache2/other /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
... and if it doesn't look like this
{quote}
Include /private/etc/apache2/other/*.conf
{quote}
Edit the file and add that line.
If that's OK, then type
cat /etc/apache2/other/php5.conf
That should look like this
{quote}
<IfModule php5_module>
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps
<IfModule dir_module>
DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
</IfModule>
</IfModule>
{quote}
... if not, edit that file and make it look like it is above. Once all that is done, go to System Preferences, click on the Sharing icon, and uncheck Web Sharing, then check it again a couple of seconds later (to restart the web server).