Re: Re: [PHP3] How exactly does PHP work ?

> In article <3949EA44.34C34C37@t-edge.com>, mandar@t-edge.com (Mandar > Deshmukh) wrote: > > > I wanted to know, on each new user accessing a php page, what is > > created on the server? : > > 1) a object, > > 2) a thread, > > 3) a process > > Learning something about this will give me a clearer picture of php > > Using PHP as a Module, I think maybe just a thread, if that much, is > created. I guess it has to create some sort of discrete thing, since one > PHP incarnation on a server is independent of another... It's not a thread. With Apache-1.3 on UNIX each httpd is a separate process. PHP as an Apache module is simply part of this httpd process. When Apache recognizes that it needs to treat a file as a PHP file it simply calls a function within its own process space which then brings the execution into the PHP part of the Apache process. So, you have a single-threaded httpd process where PHP is simply part of the process and the single thread moves around within this process. When Apache is waiting for a request the execution thread is in the Apache part of the code sitting around listening on a socket. When PHP stuff is going on the execution thread is inside the PHP part of the process. > Using PHP as CGI, a whole new process is created each time. That much I > know for sure. That's correct. -Rasmus