undocumented feature with php.ini?

Hi... i recently found a msg in php.genereal about the ability to load my own php.ini file, although i'm hosted by a hosting company. I tried it out and yes, it worked. all i had to do was placing a file called php.ini in the document_root of my domain. if i create a file with phpinfo() in it, i can see: Configuration File (php.ini) Path: /homepages/6/d23442196/htdocs/mylittle.de/php.ini with all my settings got loaded. Is this intended to work like this? Never read anything about that feature in any documentation. Am I able to disable magic_quotes_gpc in the cgi version this way, which usually is only possible with the module version of php. My phpinfo() call tells me so, but i don't know if it really works. Any infos on this feature are highly appreciated. Regards Michael P.S.: I usually post in php.general, but i think this question suits better for php.dev