compiling PHP 4.3.4
 

I'm trying to compile php, and when i run configure, it says i am missing a few required programs, and it stops when it can't find/use lex or flex. Are lex and flex the same thing? I found the site for flex i think, but nothing for lex. So can i install flex and it will work? I think I also might need bison. Anyone know what to do? Seems like such a pain just to build some binaries :(

flex is the GNU implemetation of lex, so just installing either one will work. don't know if you'll need bison. configure will tell you...
i don't really see the problem building binaries - configure usually tells you what's missing. simply install any missing programs, libraries and run configure again until you don't get any error messages and you should be able to build about any program.

the flex i found online is some kind of java infrastructure, is that the right flex i need?