Scripting Solution For Crashing PHP

Question

Hello,
I hope that someone here is able to assist me.
Briefly, I am running a WebSTAR server on an old Macintosh G4 500 MHz DP mini-tower running Tiger 10.4.11. One of the websites that I operate requires using PHP and a mySQL database.
While Tiger has PHP 4.4.9, I am using a self-contained version of PHP 5.2.0 which is installed in:
/Applications/PHP5/bin/this is where the actual php binary is located
This is a self-contained PHP package that I downloaded from the Zend website.
The problem is that PHP crashes several times throughout the day. I don't know if it is a result of so many search bots hitting the site, or people who are maliciously attacking the site, or what, but the constant PHP crashing is annoying, and makes the site unreliable.
Currently, the way I have dealt with the PHP crashing problem is by keeping Activity Monitor open on my desktop, as well as the Terminal. Whenever I see PHP disappear from Activity Monitor, I follow the instructions provided by 4D -- the makers of WebSTAR -- and type the following in the Terminal to restart PHP:
set env PHPFCGICHILDREN 8
./fcgirunner.pl xxxx ./php
The x's are the port number.
"fcgirunner.pl" is an old PERL script released by Zeus Technology to startup remote FastCGI processes with their Zeus Web Server. In other words, it is my understanding that with the above commands, after setting 8 child processes for PHP, the second command uses the fcgirunner.pl PERL script to start up PHP in fastcgi mode, and listens on port xxxx.
As you can imagine, it is a hassle to have to keep an eye on PHP, and reboot it manually every time that it crashes, and I do have to sleep. With that in mind, I am interested in finding a way to automatically watch the PHP binary that is located at the above path, and to automatically relaunch the PHP binary in fcgi mode by using the above two Terminal commands, without having to keep Activity Monitor and the Terminal open all the time.
BTW, the fcgirunner.pl PERL script is located at the same location as the php binary in /Applications/PHP5/bin/.
In short, I need a solution which will do two things:
1. Keep an eye on the self-contained PHP installation.
2. Automatically reboot the PHP binary in fcgi mode -- as per the above two Terminal commands -- every time that it crashes.
Someone on another site suggested that I use a shell script, but I have basically no experience with such things. They suggested that I begin with something like the following, but to be honest, it is all Greek to me:
=============================
[CODE]
#! /bin/bash
ofPid='/bin/ps -ax | grep php | grep -v pidcheck.sh | grep -v grep'
if [[ -n "$ofPid" ]]
then
exit 0;
else
/Applications/PHP5/bin/fcgirunning.pl
fi
exit 0;
[/CODE]
=============================
Another person suggested that I use "launchd with the KeepAlive key enabled", but I have no idea whatsoever how to do that. They offered this example:
=============================
[CODE]
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>my.textedit.job</string>
<key>KeepAlive</key>
<true/>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit</string>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>
[/CODE]
=============================
They also pointed me to the launchd manual here on the Apple site, and also to a page about daemons and agents, but again, it is way over my head.
According to another person, what would be perfect would be a shell script enclosed in an Applescript, which I could save as an application, and then add to my startup items. That way, the minute I start up the G4, PHP will automatically be launched, and the script will keep an eye on it, and relaunch it if it crashes.
It would be necessary for this script to check the PHP process every minute to make sure that it is still running, as otherwise, if PHP crashes, visitors to the site just get a blank, white page.
Please bear in mind that I am not very proficient at using the Terminal, and have very little experience at writing Applescripts, or any other scripts. So, if anyone here offers that kind of a solution, you will need to provide me with very clear step-by-step instructions.
*Please note that the solution must work on an old G4 mini-tower running Tiger 10.4.11*
Thanks so much in advance. I hope that this issue can be resolved soon.

Answer 1

Hi Warren, I have no solution, but posting should bring this topic back to the top where somebody that does know can possibly see it again.