Even when I invoke php without apache:
It still shows:
rather than which would indicate it's actually using that configuration file. php.ini does exist at /usr/local/lib:

I'm running Redhat 9.0 and Apache 2.0.52. Php was ./configured's with:
I tried chown'ing php.ini to "nobody", but that didn't help. Restarting httpd makes no difference, either; the error shows up in phpinfo.php as well, and changes I make php.ini have no effect. I tried re-installing php (renamed /usr/local/php, /usr/local/lib/php.ini, and /etc/httpd/modules/libphp4.so to ".old" and then re-installed it, but to no avail. Actually, after that it didn't automatically put in a new libphp4.so, but phpinfo() still works on apache. I don't know why.

When I ran php 4.3.4 under Apache 2.0.48 I had no such trouble.

Try to run ./configure without --prefix=.. and --config-dir-path=.. since you use the default directories and see what happens. Or use --prefix=/usr/local.
Regards

Thank you. I tried that suggestion, but still have phpinfo() reporting:

Other ideas?

Did you copy the sample php.ini-recommended to /usr/local/lib and restart apache?

Yes, I did. And I made sure libphp4.so got to the right place (/etc/httpd/modules, not /usr/local/apache2/modules; though I left a copy there, too, just in case). Php 4.3.10 runs, but doesn't recognize the php.ini file. And again, even when I run php directly (without httpd), I get the same problem:

Perhaps something in the php.ini file is invalid, causing it to be rejected entirely? The only change I generally made is changing the memory allocation in Resources to 12M from 8M. Is there a command I can give php to check a config file? Is there a place where an error would be logged?

Or has anyone another idea about what could be causing the problem?

Is my only option now to reformat the hard drive and reinstall Redhat 9.0 (or more likely, Fedora 3.0)?

You don't need to reformat for this reason. Php is working as you say and the only strange thing is that it doesn't recognize php.ini. I would suggest to install Zend optimizer (http://zend.com/store/products/zend-optimizer.php) which changes php.ini and see what happens.

Regards

phpinfo() shows that it's using zend already. When I do install the latest version of Zend, it does change the php.ini file, but again, php isn't reading that php.ini, so it doesn't take effect.

Zend optimizer is not installed by default. When you install it it shows this:
Anyway looking again at your ./config options you give --enable-debugger while the ./config --help says that --enable-debug is the correct option to compile with debugging options. Change it accordingly to see if that's the case.

Good catch. I tried it with --enable-debug instead and restarted httpd. Now php -i yeilds:It still doesn't read php.ini. After I install the most recent copy of Zend and restart httpd, I get:Since it's not reading php.ini it's not making use of the newer Zend. Any other ideas?

You said you installed php with --enable-debug which I can see in the first output of phpinfo() and then installed Zend, but the output of phpinfo() in the second case shows the wrong --enable-debugger as well the --prefix, --config-file-path options!!
I would suggest to remove the directories and files created by your php installation, delete the line about libphp4.so from apache's conf file, delete also the directory you extracted php source and start over. Use something like this:
(I use with-mysql=/path/to/mysql because I don't trust the built-in mysql support)
Then copy the example php.ini to /usr/local/lib without changing anything and see what happens.

OK. That worked. I did the same for Zend optimizer 2.5.7 (as recommended on the php and Zend website). It did create the link from the /usr/local/lib/php.ini to its own:But it doesn't show up yet, though. I can get the configuration file referenced when i run php -i:However, now Apache won't process php. I verified the configuration file contains these lines:And I've verified that I've got the right httpd.conf file modified. I've put a copy of libphp4.so (the one generated by today's build) in /etc/httpd/modules, where the rest of the modules are. It was originall put in /usr/local/apache2/modules, and I left a copy there. I've restarted httpd, but it still isn't processing (as evidenced by Mozilla asking me whether I want to save the file phpinfo.php when I point to it. Should I remove all the httpd files and re-install them, too? I did upgrade to 2.0.52 in the process of trying to get php 4.3.10 to work, and I probably did NOT remove the old folders first.

Also, I thought it would create a /usr/local/php directory with php files. It did not. Under /usr/local/bin I have annotate php, phpize, php-config, pear, and phpextdist; and of course the php.ini file is in the expected place.
I appreciate your help!
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An update:
I've no re-compiled Apache, then PHP, then Zend Optimizer. Apache is now processing php (except for my phpinfo.php page, for some reason; other php files are fine). It's also not showing the Zend Optimizer, at least in the command line -i version. However, I've now got a working system, and so I'm going to bed. Thank you for all the help!