`DOCUMENT_ROOT` from environment in cli is not propagated to $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']
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Feature
Status: Needs Triage
- Dominant language
- C
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Description
Description
The following code:
DOCUMENT_ROOT=/test php -r 'var_dump($_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"]);'
Resulted in this output:
string(0) ""
But I expected this output instead:
string(5) "/test"
with a file the out is the same
I think the culprit is https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/42f994cd05da353c93cd65775026859f664289a3/sapi/cli/php_cli.c#L344 as the only mention of DOCUMENT_ROOT for php-cli
PHP Version
PHP 8.4.15 (cli) (built: Nov 20 2025 19:00:52) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
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Zend Engine v4.4.15, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v8.4.15, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
Operating System
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First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
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- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start in sapi/cli/php_cli.c at the DOCUMENT_ROOT handling identified in the issue, and reproduce the command-line example with and without a file. Trace how the environment value reaches $_SERVER; done means PHP CLI exposes /test as $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] in both cases.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- c, php
- Domain
- cli
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 48/100