Install PHP by running the following commands: ./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc \ --with-apxs2 --with-config-file-path=/etc \ --with-zlib --with-bz2 --enable-ftp --with-gettext \ --with-iconv --with-mysql=/usr --with-ncurses && make && make install && cp php.ini-recommended /etc/php.ini PHP has many more configure options that will enable support for certain things. You can use ./configure --help to see a full list of the available options. Also, use of the PHP web site is highly recommended, as their online docs are very good.