Windows server: PECL extensions: php.net or pecl4win.php.net

Windows server: PECL extensions: php.net or pecl4win.php.net

by Luis de Vasconcelos -
Number of replies: 5

Going through the installation instructions for setting up PHP and Moodle on a Windows 2003 Server under IIS and MSSQL2005 I noticed that there are two places to download the PECL Extensions for PHP:

The first is from the downloads page on the php.net website: http://www.php.net/downloads.php

The second is from http://pecl4win.php.net/branch.php

The pecl4win archive that I got from pecl4win.php.net seems to contain a number of extensions (.dll files) that are not available in the archive that is available on the php.net/downloads page.

The version on the php.net site seems to have been built more recently (3 May 2008) than the version on the pecl4win.php.net site (10 March 2008).

Which one should I install for an optimal Moodle setup - the pecl4win version or the version from php.net?

My Moodle environment:
Moodle 1.9.1+
PHP 5.2.6
IIS6
MSSQL 2005 (with FreeTDS)
Windows 2003 Server SP2

Thanks

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Luis de Vasconcelos

Re: Windows server: PECL extensions: php.net or pecl4win.php.net

by Ken Wilson -

Luis

I've always used the ones on the pecl4win site as they are pre-compiled for Windows as DLLs. The ones on the www.php.net/downloads page are *nix orientated and are supplied in .tgz format for compilation - although they are sometimes useful to have as a reference to look at the source files and the technical documentation.

Ken

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Ken Wilson

Re: Windows server: PECL extensions: php.net or pecl4win.php.net

by Luis de Vasconcelos -

Thanks Ken,

The php.net/downloads.php page contains a .zip archive with the PECL .dll files for Windows and not any .tgz files that you can compile on *nix. And there's a message in the top left corner which says, "We do not distribute UNIX/Linux binaries. Most Linux distributions come with PHP these days".

Or am I confused?

That's what led me to ask why the php.net site links to one PECL archive instead of linking to the archive on the PECL website. What is the difference between the PECL extensions on the PECL site and the version on the PHP.NET site?

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Luis de Vasconcelos

Re: Windows server: PECL extensions: php.net or pecl4win.php.net

by Ken Wilson -

Thanks for the explanation Luis - I was looking at the "PECL hosted PHP extensions" text on the left hand side underneath "Other Downloads". That link takes you to this page, which contains the .tgz files I was referring to, and which is a more comprehensive list than included in the .zip download. I think that those DLLs in the .zip file are just the common ones that are used and the PECL4WIN site contains the ones which aren't in the .zip download, e.g. the APC DLL.

I think that the two sites complement each other so oOne way of using them is take a look at what's available in the main PECL site (http://pecl.php.net) and then check if there's an extension which you like the look of, to see if there's a DLL currently available for it.

Makes sense?

Ken

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Luis de Vasconcelos

Re: Windows server: PECL extensions: php.net or pecl4win.php.net

by David Hernández -
Luis and Ken,

I'm not an expert in this things, but once I was browsing through my PHP
directory, and I found the PEAR folder.

I tried to find what was it, and it's a "PHP Extension and Application
Repository" (I understand that it's like the mother of PECL)

After installing it (you just have to run a batch file), you can
use a kind of MS-Dos PECL (I've never used the PECL you're talking about, so I
don't know if its the same thing).

I've used it a couple of times, and it is very functional, because this
PECL gets not only the DLL's, but its dependencies.

Here you can find how everything works.

Well, after commenting this and reading your posts, I have a couple
of questions:

Does PEAR and its own PECL retrieve the same packages that PECL4Win?

If the answer is "no", can you please explain me the differences? (well, just a
brief description wink )

Thank you very much.

David
Average of ratings: -