How To Specify A Custom php.ini For A Web Site (Apache2 With mod_php)

Version 1.0
Author: Falko Timme <ft [at] falkotimme [dot] com>
Last edited 02/02/2009

This short article explains how you can specify a custom php.ini for a web site running on Apache2 with mod_php. That way, each web site can have its own php.ini instead of having to use the server's default one.

I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!

1 Preliminary Note

I'm using the web site www.example.com here with the document root /var/www/web1/web here.

If you want to learn how to configure a custom php.ini for a web site using Apache + mod_fcgid + PHP, take a look at chapter 5 on http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-set-up-apache2-with-mod_fcgid-and-php5-on-debian-etch-p2.

2 Getting Details About Your PHP Installation

We will now create a small PHP file (info.php) in the document root and call it in a browser. The file will display lots of useful details about our PHP installation, such as the used php.ini file.

vi /var/www/web1/web/info.php

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Now we call that file in a browser (e.g. http://www.example.com/info.php):

As you see, the web site is currently using the /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini file.

3 Custom php.ini For Each Web Site

I will copy the default php.ini (/etc/php5/apache2/php.ini on Debian/Ubuntu; /etc/php.ini on Fedora/CentOS) to the /var/www/web1/ directory and make www.example.com use the php.ini from the /var/www/web1/ directory:

Debian/Ubuntu:

cp /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini /var/www/web1/

Fedora/CentOS:

cp /etc/php.ini /var/www/web1/

(You can now modify /var/www/web1/php.ini to your likings.)

Then open the vhost configuration for the www.example.com web site and add a PHPINIDir line to it:

<VirtualHost 1.2.3.4:80>
[...]
PHPINIDir /var/www/web1
[...]
</VirtualHost>

PHPINIDir must contain the directory where the php.ini file for the web site is located.

Restart Apache afterwards:

Debian/Ubuntu:

/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Fedora/CentOS:

/etc/init.d/httpd restart

Now call the info.php file again in a browser (http://www.example.com/info.php):

The Configuration File (php.ini) Path line should now show the new php.ini.

4 Links

• Apache: http://httpd.apache.org/
• PHP: http://www.php.net/