fastcgi and php on Debian etch walkthrough

Debian 4.0 etch is the new stable distribution. Noteably, Debian has switched to version 2.2 of apache2. The following walkthrough shows how to setup php running inside the fastcgi apache2 module on this new Debian release.

This walkthrough is based on http://www.howtoforge.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4606 with the following exceptions:

• use Debian PHP5 or PHP4 pre-compiled binary
• does not require support for the imuteable bit
• uses apache 2.2
• and Debian 4.0 etch

Refer to the original instructions where this walkthrough does not make sense.



For simplicity's sake, this is all done as root. Usually, Debian people recommend using a normal unprivileged account for compiling things and getting package sources.

• Install apache2.2 and download sources

Code:

apt-get install apache2.2-common apache2-threaded-dev apache2-mpm-worker
mkdir /root/install
cd /root/install
apt-get source apache2.2-common
cd apache2-2.2.3/
debian/rules
./configure

The last step will set the configuration options to the Debian defaults.

• Patch suexec

Code:

cd support
vi suexec.c

Change accordingly, Line 567 (first and last line of this snippet).

Code:

/* no file owner check
    if ((uid != dir_info.st_uid) ||
        (gid != dir_info.st_gid) ||
 
 
        (uid != prg_info.st_uid) ||
        (gid != prg_info.st_gid)) {
        log_err("target uid/gid (%ld/%ld) mismatch "
                "with directory (%ld/%ld) or program (%ld/%ld)\n",
                uid, gid,
                dir_info.st_uid, dir_info.st_gid,
                prg_info.st_uid, prg_info.st_gid);
        exit(120);
    }
  */

• Compile and "install" suexec

Code:

make suexec
mkdir -p /usr/local/lib/apache2/
cp suexec /usr/local/lib/apache2/suexec-fcgi
chown root.root /usr/local/lib/apache2/suexec-fcgi
chmod 4755 /usr/local/lib/apache2/suexec-fcgi

Checking the permissions on the file should look like this

Code:

stat /usr/local/lib/apache2/suexec-fcgi
  File: `/usr/local/lib/apache2/suexec-fcgi'
  Size: 24675           Blocks: 56         IO Block: 131072 regular file
Device: 803h/2051d      Inode: 73997       Links: 1
Access: (4755/-rwsr-xr-x)  Uid: (    0/    root)   Gid: (    0/    root)
Access: 2007-04-24 07:24:21.000000000 +0100
Modify: 2007-04-20 13:30:09.000000000 +0100
Change: 2007-04-23 14:09:09.000000000 +0100

• Install libapache2-mod-fastcgi

The libapache2-mod-fastcgi package is in the non-free section of the Debian repositories. If it's not there yet change your entry in /etc/apt/sources.list from

Code:

deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ stable main

to

Code:

deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ stable main non-free contrib

Contrib can be useful too sometimes.

Then install fastcgi

Code:

apt-get install libapache2-mod-fastcgi

And configure apache to use it

Code:

a2enmod fastcgi

Now to the configuration of mod_fastcgi. The following allows us to keep the php-fastcgi-starter outside of what the user can access or modify.

Code:

# /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/fastcgi.conf
<IfModule mod_fastcgi.c>
         #AddHandler fastcgi-script .fcgi
         #FastCgiWrapper /usr/lib/apache2/suexec2
         #FastCgiIpcDir /var/lib/apache2/fastcgi

        #temporary sockets are stored here, this must be at the top!
        FastCgiIpcDir /var/lib/apache2/fastcgi

        #config
        FastCgiConfig -pass-header Authorization

        FastCgiWrapper /usr/local/lib/apache2/suexec-fcgi

        #php

        AddHandler php-fastcgi .php .php3 .php4 .php5 .phtml .phps
        <Location /php-fastcgi/php-fcgi-starter>
                SetHandler fastcgi-script
                Options +ExecCGI
        </Location>
        Action php-fastcgi /php-fastcgi/php-fcgi-starter

        #perl
        #TODO

        ##ISPConfig add this by the installtion of it

        ##ISPConfig INSTALL## AddType ##ISPConfig INSTALL## application/x-httpd-php .php

        <Directory "/var/www/">
                AllowOverride None
                Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews -Indexes
                Order allow,deny
                Allow from all
        </Directory>
</IfModule>

• Install PHP4 and PHP5

Using the PHP from Debian packages makes is easier to maintain and upgrade the system. To install use

Code:

apt-get install php4-cgi php5-cgi php4-mysql php5-mysql

Edit the default configuration files and enable safe_mode and set open_basedir to /var/www. More importantly, add this to both files (/etc/php4/cgi/php.ini and /etc/php5/cgi/php.ini)

Code:

cgi.fix_pathinfo=1

(Note: I am not sure this is necessary)

Create the php-fastcgi starter script
(at this point worth mentioning that ISPConfig should already be installed)

Code:

/root/ispconfig/scripts/php-fcgi-starter
#!/bin/sh
PHPRC="/etc/php5/cgi/"
export PHPRC
PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=3
export PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN
exec /usr/bin/php5-cgi

and

Code:

chown root.root /root/ispconfig/scripts/php-fcgi-starter
chmod 0755 /root/ispconfig/scripts/php-fcgi-starter

Now patch ISPConfig to use php-fastcgi instead of the php module and create the starter in the right place. This patch also changes the default permissions of new web sites to 750 and adds www-data to every group created by ISPConfig.

Apply this patch to
/root/ispconfig/scripts/lib/config.lib.php

Code:

1119c1119
1119c1119
<
---
>
1120a1121,1123
>   //mimo http://www.howtoforge.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4375
>   // add www user to each new group
>   $mod->system->add_user_to_group("web".$doc_id,$apache_user);
1127a1131,1135
>
>     //mimo 2nd part
>     exec("chmod 750 $web_path");
>     exec("chmod 750 $web_path_realname");
>
1385a1394,1405
>         //FASTCGI (here we could add a handler for different versions of php and php.ini files
>       //FASTCGI Modification
>       #$fcgip = $mod->system->server_conf["server_path_httpd_root"]."/"."web".$web["doc_id"];
>       $fcgip = $mod->system->server_conf["server_path_httpd_root"]."/php-fastcgi/"."web".$web["doc_id"];
>       if(!file_exists($fcgip."/php-fcgi-starter")) {
>               $mod->log->msg("creating $fcgip"."/php-fcgi-starter");
>               if(!file_exists($fcgip)) {
>                       exec("mkdir -p $fcgip");
>               }
>               exec("cp -p /root/ispconfig/scripts/php-fcgi-starter ".$fcgip."/ && chown root:root ".$fcgip."/php-fcgi-starter");
>       }
>
1387c1407,1410
<         $php = "AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .php3 .php4 .php5";
---
>       // FASTCGI
>         //$php = "AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .php3 .php4 .php5";
>       #$php = "ScriptAlias /php-fastcgi/ ".$mod->system->server_conf["server_path_httpd_root"]."/"."web".$web["doc_id"]."/\n";
>       $php = "ScriptAlias /php-fastcgi/ $fcgip\n";
1390a1414,1415
>                 #$php = "ScriptAlias /php-fastcgi/ ".$mod->system->server_conf["server_path_httpd_root"]."/"."web".$web["doc_id"]."/\n";
>                 $php = "ScriptAlias /php-fastcgi/ $fcgip/\n";
1423a1449,1450
> //disbaled FASTCGI
> /*
1432a1460
> */
2513c2541
< ?>
\ No newline at end of file
---
> ?>
1119c1119
<
---
>
1120a1121,1123
>   //mimo http://www.howtoforge.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4375
>   // add www user to each new group
>   $mod->system->add_user_to_group("web".$doc_id,$apache_user);
1127a1131,1135
>
>     //mimo 2nd part
>     exec("chmod 750 $web_path");
>     exec("chmod 750 $web_path_realname");
>
1385a1394,1405
>         //FASTCGI (here we could add a handler for different versions of php and php.ini files
>       //FASTCGI Modification
>       #$fcgip = $mod->system->server_conf["server_path_httpd_root"]."/"."web".$web["doc_id"];
>       $fcgip = $mod->system->server_conf["server_path_httpd_root"]."/php-fastcgi/"."web".$web["doc_id"];
>       if(!file_exists($fcgip."/php-fcgi-starter")) {
>               $mod->log->msg("creating $fcgip"."/php-fcgi-starter");
>               if(!file_exists($fcgip)) {
>                       exec("mkdir -p $fcgip");
>               }
>               exec("cp -p /root/ispconfig/scripts/php-fcgi-starter ".$fcgip."/ && chown root:root ".$fcgip."/php-fcgi-starter");
>       }
>
1387c1407,1410
<         $php = "AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .php3 .php4 .php5";
---
>       // FASTCGI
>         //$php = "AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .php3 .php4 .php5";
>       #$php = "ScriptAlias /php-fastcgi/ ".$mod->system->server_conf["server_path_httpd_root"]."/"."web".$web["doc_id"]."/\n";
>       $php = "ScriptAlias /php-fastcgi/ $fcgip\n";
1390a1414,1415
>                 #$php = "ScriptAlias /php-fastcgi/ ".$mod->system->server_conf["server_path_httpd_root"]."/"."web".$web["doc_id"]."/\n";
>                 $php = "ScriptAlias /php-fastcgi/ $fcgip/\n";
1423a1449,1450
> //disbaled FASTCGI
> /*
1432a1460
> */
2513c2541
< ?>
\ No newline at end of file
---
> ?>

Create the base directory for the php-fastcgi starter scripts. The idea is to have a separate one for each web site so that later on it is possible to chose the version and settings of PHP on a per site basis.

Code:

mkdir /var/www/php-fastcgi
chown root.root /var/www/php-fastcgi

• Finally, start or restart apache2. All done!

For new web sites ISPConfig will create this structure


/var/www/--+/webX/ <- normal content, user has full access
/var/www/--+/php-fastcgi/webX/php-fastcgi-starter

 

Do you think you can create a tutorial and submit it? http://www.howtoforge.com/add_howto
That would be great!

 

Hi Till, out of interest, what would the rough timescales of this be: 1week, 1month, 1year, ? ( *expecting* "when we're ready", but it doesn't hurt to ask )

I'm currently working on fastcgi packages ( php-binary & httpd_module ) for CentOS 4.4 (As I can't find any pre-build packages, you lucky debian people ! ), but I haven't yet figured how to config it properly, this could save me a whole load of hassle

EDIT:
Found Mod_fastcgi.rpm on this blokes website: http://www.city-fan.org/ftp/contrib/websrv/
I've built a php-fcgi binary avilable here: http://www.linickx.com/files/rpm/whitebox/4/i386/php-fcgi-4.3.9-3.22.4.1.i386.rpm

Code:

[root@www tmp]# /usr/bin/php-fcgi -v
PHP 4.3.9 (cgi-fcgi) (built: Apr 27 2007 11:41:10)
Copyright (c) 1997-2004 The PHP Group

 

Why

Why use fastcgi instead PHP module?

Faster?

Better security?

Regards,

Taguapire

 

like suphp, except apc ,eaccelerator and xcache appear to support fast-cgi .

redhat-like users might be interested in reading this php bug before using fast-cgi tho.

 

would this be the solution to allow my users who use fastcgi to kill their own processes? sometimes I am required to killall -9 dispatch.fcgi because they make some bigger changes in their scripts...

also I'd like to ask a question about the settings of fastcgi:

I am trying to use these config options:

The first option limits the number of children of a certain script (I guess determined by the name) the second one limits the total number of active children.
BUT if I set a limit for the first one, this does not work out for me as my different instances all have the same name: dispatch.fcgi so if I set option#1 to 2 because I want each "scritp" running max. 2 times in parallel I won't be able to have more than 2 dispatch.fcgi in total on my system...

Is there a workaround or did I udnerstand thsi wrong?

 

did you do ?

Code:

cd apache2-2.2.3/
debian/rules

and

Code:

apt-get install apache2.2-common apache2-threaded-dev apache2-mpm-worker

I think it could be apache2-threaded-dev that is missing

 

apt-get source apache2.2-common

is this any problem?

i already installed apache2.2-common apache2-threaded-dev apache2-mpm-worker

 

Thanks for this great howto! Really!

I was myself trying to compile the patched suexec on a debian/etch and I encourted the same compilation errors reported above by mtuser. Actually, it is just enough to "./configure" before building suexec.

So, I suggest the following mods to be applyed to the howto;

apt-get install apache2.2-common apache2-threaded-dev apache2-mpm-worker
mkdir /root/install
cd /root/install
apt-get source apache2.2-common
cd apache2-2.2.3/
debian/rules
./configure
cd support
vi suexec.c
make suexec

and voilà.

Hope that helps.

Regards,
--
h2o

 

Thank you I'll try

 

Apache can not start

line 21:

 

Try enabling the actions module in apache2

Code:

a2enmod actions

 

php can not be run
http://myweb.com/phpinfo.php

500 error - Internal Server Error!

web error.log

Apache2/error.log

hmm it may be too hard for me. nothing done.
give up.
Thank you I need to learn more.

 

can you post the content of /var/www/php-fastcgi/web1/php-fcgi-starter ?

 

I'm sorry. I can't. I just changed it to suPHP.

 

per directory settings support

One thing I noticed about this solution is that you lose the comfort of per directory php settings.
So today I had a look around and found this:

http://trac.lighttpd.net/trac/wiki/HowToPhpHtaccess

It allows for parsing .htaccess files with php settings into directories and parses them for php-cgi. The only thing that it's really missing for a complete replacement of all php module features is a place where to define settings a user cannot override. This one, though, prevents users from overwriting open_basedir and safe_mode stuff (if safe_mode is set).

 

Why do you patch sussec, does'nt it work like for apache2 from its default?

Why do you adds www-data to every group created by ISPConfig?

I'm using apache2.0 together with php-fast-cgi and sussec on sarge3.1 but there was no need to cange something like you told. Is all this different with etch?

 

Would be cool to know against which version of /root/ispconfig/scripts/lib/config.lib.php this diff was taken like with diff -u or so (includes context)
From the date of your post I would think
ISPConfig-2.2.12 (2007-04-17 00:18)
which I'm going to try now...