php / php/php-src

Improve user experience when extension files not found

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#19,499 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Feature Status: Needs Triage
Dominant language
C
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Description

(Context: User having issues enabling extensions on PHP on Windows: https://www.reddit.com/r/PHPhelp/comments/1mrxepv/trouble_installing_php_composer_and_laravel/ )

PHP Warning: PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library 'curl' (tried: C:\php\ext\curl (The specified module could not be found), C:\php\ext\php_curl.dll (The specified module could not be found)) in Unknown on line 0

I think it would be helpful if this message mentioned the extension_dir setting explicitly.

eg. something along the lines of "Is extension_dir correct?"

If you don't know that this setting exists, it's not obvious why PHP is looking for extension files in the wrong place.

I think it would also help to move the extension_dir setting directly above the extension= list (if possible) in the php.ini template files. (It is mentioned in the comments above, but those are easy to miss)

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by locating the code that emits the dynamic-library startup warning and the php.ini template files mentioned in the issue. Check how extension_dir and extension entries are presented, then verify that the warning explicitly points users to extension_dir and the template places that setting directly above the extension list.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c, php
Domain
backend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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