Enabling cURL in PHP

[gchq]

I'm attempting to enable cURL on a W2K server that runs PHP. Please bear in mind that I'm a .NET developer so a complete and utter newbie when it comes to PHP!!

It's been some eight to ten years since I originally installed PHP and can't remember how I went about it - updgrades have been performed by just replaced the old exe and dll with later ones! Basically it's run quite happily without any interference from me! Current version is 4.4.7

So far I've

1. Dowloaded the latest version of libcurl
2. Copied php_curl.dll to the PHP/Extensions directory
3. Found copies of libeay.dll and ssleay.dll in phpED and placed them in the PHP directory
4. Added the follwing lines to php.ini
extension_dir = C:\php\extensions
extension=php_curl.dll


I've come across "To use PHP's cURL support you must also compile PHP --with-curl[=DIR]" but - and this must sound idiotic - I have no idea what steps to take to compile the PHP OS!! I've googled and searched the PHP site but all references to compiling assumes that the reader knows what basic tools to use...

Any help would be very much appreciated

[Atli]

Hi.

Check out the cUrl section at php.net.

This is a small extract from that page

Note to Win32 Users: In order to enable this module on a Windows environment, libeay32.dll and ssleay32.dll must be present in your PATH.

You don't need libcurl.dll from the cURL site.

[gchq]

Hi Atli

That's where I found "...you must also compile PHP --with-curl[=DIR]" - and that's the point at which I hit the proverbial brick wall - thud!

[Atli]

O yea, it was just above where I took my extract :P

Did you add the .ddl's to the PATH variable?
As far as I can see adding the php_licurl.dll as an extension and adding the other two to the PATH, should do the trick.

Then again, I might be horribly wrong... I'll snoop around a bit and see what I can turn up.

[Atli]

Ok. So I just installed Apache2 (2.2.4) and PHP5 (5.2.4) on my WindowsXP to check this out.
I just used the Install wizards, as that takes about 2 minutes and doesn't require me to go anywhere near a config file :)

The wizard installed cUrl for me, But! It wouldn't start. So after checking this out I found out exactly what the Installer did.

It put a copy of 'php_curl.dll' into the \ext directory of my PHP install directory.
Then it added it to my php.ini file.
It also put the 'ssleay32.dll' and the 'libeay32.dll' files directly into the PHP install directory.
So... thats all the files it needs, apparently.

Only problem was, it needs the last two .dll's to be accessible through the PATH variable. So I added it to.

After restarting Apache... still nothing.
So I did what one usually does when Windows won't play nice... I rebooted.

Now everything clicked into place and curl is up and running!

[gchq]

Atli

You've gone to a lot of trouble to help me - thank you so much!

I'll have go and let you know - seems I did most of it - just hadn't got round to adding the path variables and doing a re-boot! Since this server is 'live' I'll have to pick my time to re-boot - but them the MS fortnightly patch up of holes is also awaiting a re-boot as well! Shame Novell caved in - oh well another soap box another time! I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again - above and beyond the call of duty!

[gchq]

MMMmm

libeay32.dll and ssbeay32.dll are in the main PHP directory and I entered libeay32 and ssbeay32 in the PATH statement and pointed them to the directory and files

php_curl.dll is in the PHP/Extensions directory

The php.ini file is:-

cgi.force_redirect = 0
asp_tags = true
extension_dir = C:\php\extensions
extension=php_curl.dll

re-booted and nothing... sigh!

[Atli]

Damn :/
Maybe this works differently in PHP4.
Just for to be thorough... What exactly did you put in the PATH variable?
(don't know if I spelled 'thorough' correctly :P)

Have you considered updating to PHP5 ?
If you need any incentive, check out the second post at php.net [13-Jul-2007]
(Or even gophp5.org)

[gchq]

Path variables were

Variable Name ibeay32
Variable Value C\PHP\ibeay32.dll

and

ssleay32
C:\PHP\ssleay32

Can't remember what the issue was after the last upgrade - but there WAS a reason to stay with PHP 4x and not upset the already sailing boat!:

[gchq]

I wonder if the issue could be do do with Apache (that you used) and IIS that I use?

It would appear that IIS is configured in CGI mode only! Not sure of the implications!

[Atli]

I just appended this: 'C:\Program Files\PHP\', the path where I put the .dll files, onto the PATH variable.

I don't think it will matter if it is in CGI mode or not.
From what I have read, the cUrl module should load normally, like it does when used as a module. Tho there may be some weird behavior in rare cases when run in CGI mode.

[gchq]

Just to be sure -we are talking about the main Windows 'Path' (as in an old DOS user)?

Right Click My Computer
Properties
Advanced
Environment Variables (this used to be called Path in the DOS days)

You then get to add the variable and the value as a paired set

[Atli]

Your in the right place, but there should already be a system variable called 'Path' (the case can vary). If it doesn't exists you can create it.

You should add the path to the .dll's to the value of that.

[gchq]

Seems like I'm having one of those days - sooooo it's now as it should be in the path variable. I've re-booted the server but still no joy! Is there any way of knowing is the cURL module has loaded?

I might just try installing 5x on my PC and see what happens.

[kovik]

I could have sworn cURL was automatically enabled in PHP5 installations. Are you sure it doesn't work?

[gchq]

I've installed 5.x on my local machine and still no joy - I've done everything but the re-boot (it's a long winded nightmare with all the shit thal's loaded).

A bit of background - I'm a .NET developer and know very little about PHP apart from minor edits to php pages. I'm attempting to get an flickr lookup element working within a Rich Text Editor written by Dav Glass (now at Yahoo), and this requires cURL. All I can establish is that the test page doesn't respond as it should! For all I know perhaps the cURL module HAS loaded and there is another issue. If the calling page is run it returns the error - "Fatal error: Call to undefined function: curl_init() in ....."

[gchq]

I was wrong - it DOES run on my development PC - so I guess the issue is to do with upgrading to PHP 5x

Thank you again for all your help