Are these problems normal?

[michaelk46]

When I started the book Build your own Database driven website 4th edition, I started getting problems in chapter 4 (I can't remember what) that I had to upgrade to PHP version 5.3 to solve. Not a big deal afterall, I was upgrading.

Then about a week ago, I started getting an fatal error for mysqli_connect which I had to DOWNGRADE to 5.2.11 to resolve (weird but whatever as long as it worked).

Now I started getting an error that the Apache http server stopped working when I tried to query a table in the database that was populated. The interesting thing was that while the EXACT same table was unpopulated the script ran fine...nothing came from the query, but at least I wouldn't get the error.

Now the way I corrected the problem is to REUPGRADE to PHP 5.3.

I have two questions...

1. Am I the only one these type of issues are happening to?

2. How stable is PHP?

[Dan Grossman]

PHP is stable, though virtually no web hosts are on 5.3 yet (too new). It sounds like you have broken something in the midst of all the upgrading and downgrading. File version mismatches or configuration, who knows.

[Wardrop]

I'd suggest you start with a fresh copy of Apache, Mysql and PHP, ensuring you use a thread-safe VC6 binary of PHP if you're running on Windows and using Apache. It's all very straight forward. You can use the Apache and Mysql install packages (MSI's) available on both sites. Fianlly, getting PHP to work with Apache isn't very hard at all. There are plenty of quick and simple guides available online which provide step by step instructions.

I'm of course assuming you're running windows on your development workstation/server.

[michaelk46]

To be honest I think windows is the problem... I just hope WIndows 7 is as awesome as everyone says it is...

[Dan Grossman]

Windows is not the problem and Windows 7 is not the solution.

[Cups]

If you are using installers check they don't leave any old php.ini files or mysql conf files lying around, this can be maddening. Check you only have one of each.

[michaelk46]

There were times when did a complete rebuild of the system and the same problems occured, so that tells me there is a good chance that it could be windows...

[BonyYousuf]

start fresh. that would be good for u..