php.ini not being read

I've compiled and installed Apcache 2.0.52 and PHP 5.0.3 with the config file path set to "/etc". When I hit a php page through apache that contains phpinfo(), it shows: Configuration File (php.ini) Path --> /etc I set the session.save_path to /tmp in /etc/php.ini. When I hit the phpinfo() again, the session.save_path is set to empty: session.save_path no value no value The permissions on the php.ini are set to readable by everybody (644). The /tmp directory is writable and readable by everybody (776). What am I missing here??