Why PHP reads local php.ini?

I mean than when you run PHP in CGI mode, PHP doesn´t read default php.ini location. It first to look php in your actual path. An example... ecazfe04:/home3/www# php -v PHP 4.3.1 (cgi), Copyright (c) 1997-2002 The PHP Group Zend Engine v1.3.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2002 Zend Technologies ecazfe04:/home3/www# export REQUEST_METHOD="POST" // Now we are in CGI mode as if it was called from Apache. ecazfe04:/home3/www# export REDIRECT_STATUS="200" // To avoid force-cgi-redirect ecazfe04:/home3/www# php -v Content-type: text/html X-Powered-By: PHP/4.3.1 No input file specified. // Ok, we are in CGI mode and it looks for a file. /home3/www# cd <path_to_file> /home3/www# php index.php Everithings gos OK, except that if exists php.ini in <path_to_file> PHP uses it. That overrides default compilation option. You can see it if you use phpinfo() in 'index.php'. I think this shouldn´t be the correct way of reading php.ini, but maybe I´m wrong. Can anybody help me? I run a webserver (Apache+PHP) that hosts some virtualhosts and I don´t won´t that my customers could use an alternate php.ini. PS: Sorry, I´m Spanish and I don´t know if my explanation is clear enough. José Luis Pérez Ruiz Arrakis Servicios y Comunicaciones S.L.U. Edificio Expo, C/ Inca Garcilaso s/n Isla de la Cartuja 41092 Sevilla Telefono: 955 550 509 ********************************************** Noticia legal Este mensaje electrónico contiene información de BT Ignite España S.A.U. que es privada y confidencial, siendo para el uso exclusivo de la persona (s) o entidades arriba mencionadas. Si usted no es el destinatario señalado, le informamos que cualquier divulgación, copia, distribución o uso de los contenidos está prohibida. Si usted ha recibido este mensaje por error, por favor borre su contenido lo antes posible. Gracias.