[suPHP] suPHP_ConfigPath/PHPRC ignored

Hi guys, normally I'm not one to cry out for help. But I'm having an issue that's driving me crazy. I've been searching the web and the suPHP list archives for almost a week with no resolution. Staring at the config and log files isn't helping either. Sorry for the lengthy message. But I figure more info means less Q&A and less of your time. Any help will be greatly appreciated. A while back I installed a fresh Debian Lenny system with Apache2/PHP5 (CGI) and suPHP on my EeePC. That system is working perfectly with user-specific php.ini files. I documented the steps I needed to take to get it working the way I want it to. Then I created a new server (virtual with Xen 5) for hosting purposes. I installed the same Debian Lenny with the same packages and configuration as far as I'm aware of. suPHP works just fine, I see info messages in it's log file when I open the test website in my browser. The custom .ini file I saved to /etc/php5/conf.d/default.ini with general setting for all users is applied as expected. The problem is that the php.ini file in the directory specified with suPHP_ConfigPath is completely ignored... When I check with "ls -alu" the file access time doesn't change when I open the test website. I've tried to copy the user-specific php.ini file to /tmp, give it 777 permissions and change suPHP_ConfigPath accordingly. I tried changing ownership of this php.ini to the user running the PHP script. Also tried to set suPHP_ConfigPath in different Apache config files. But nothing seems to matter. /etc/apache2/mods-available/suphp.conf is used since turning off the suPHP_Engine there results in the browser downloading PHP files as plain tekst with source code. I know I have the correct VirtualHost, the files are served from that directory. Changing suPHP_ConfigPath to xxxsuPHP_ConfigPath will prevent Apache from starting up as expected, so the suPHP_ConfigPath property *is* recognized by Apache. I just don't get why it works on one computer and not the other. Maybe I'm missing something really small and simple. I've been looking at phpinfo() output. Both computers have: Environment PHPRC /home/000-suphp/zzz.zzz/web PHP Variables _SERVER["PHPRC"] /home/000-suphp/zzz.zzz/web The server that's ignoring the config file shows: Loaded Configuration File /etc/php5/cgi/php.ini Whereas the EeePC shows: Loaded Configuration File /home/000-suphp/zzz.zzz/web/php.ini When I use PHP-CGI with -c switch from the console I DO see the correct path on the server: # php5-cgi -c /home/000-suphp/zzz.zzz/web \ > -f /home/zzz.zzz/web/index.php |grep Loaded <tr><td class="e">Loaded Configuration File </td><td class="v">/home/000-suphp/zzz.zzz/web/php.ini </td></tr> This also works: # PHPRC=/home/000-suphp/zzz.zzz/web # export PHPRC # php5-cgi -f /home/zzz.zzz/web/phpinfo.php |grep Loaded <tr><td class="e">Loaded Configuration File </td><td class="v">/home/000-suphp/zzz.zzz/web/php.ini </td></tr> So with PHPRC set why won't PHP load the correct configuration file when I request a script through Apache/suPHP? Installed packages: apache2-mpm-prefork 2.2.9-10+lenny2 libapache2-mod-suphp 0.6.2-3 php5-common 5.2.6.dfsg.1-0.1~lenny1 php5-cgi 5.2.6.dfsg.1-0.1~lenny1 test.php: <?php echo TESTZZZ; echo exec('cat /etc/passwd'); var_dump(ini_get('upload_tmp_dir')); ?> Returns: Notice: Use of undefined constant TESTZZZ - assumed 'TESTZZZ' in /home/zzz.zzz/web/abc/down.php on line 2 TESTZZZ Warning: exec() has been disabled for security reasons in /home/zzz.zzz/web/abc/down.php on line 3 bool(false) /etc/apache2/mods-available/suphp.conf: <IfModule mod_suphp.c> AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .php3 .php4 .php5 .phtml suPHP_AddHandler application/x-httpd-php <Directory /> suPHP_Engine on </Directory> # By default, disable suPHP for debian packaged web applications as files # are owned by root and cannot be executed by suPHP because of min_uid. <Directory /usr/share> suPHP_Engine off </Directory> # # Use a specific php config file (a dir which contains a php.ini file) suPHP_ConfigPath /home/000-suphp/zzz.zzz/web # # Tells mod_suphp NOT to handle requests with the type <mime-type>. # suPHP_RemoveHandler <mime-type> </IfModule> /etc/apache2/sites-available/zzz.zzz: <VirtualHost 192.168.3.84> ServerName zzz.zzz ServerAlias www.zzz.zzz DocumentRoot /home/zzz.zzz/web/ TransferLog /home/zzz.zzz/logs/web.log suPHP_ConfigPath /home/000-suphp/zzz.zzz/web </VirtualHost> <VirtualHost 192.168.3.84> ServerName beta.zzz.zzz DocumentRoot /home/zzz.zzz/beta/ TransferLog /home/zzz.zzz/logs/beta.log suPHP_ConfigPath /home/000-suphp/zzz.zzz/beta </VirtualHost> /etc/suphp/suphp.conf: [global] ;Path to logfile logfile=/var/log/suphp/suphp.log ;Loglevel loglevel=info ;User Apache is running as webserver_user=www-data ;Path all scripts have to be in docroot=/home ;Path to chroot() to before executing script ;chroot=/mychroot ; Security options allow_file_group_writeable=false allow_file_others_writeable=false allow_directory_group_writeable=false allow_directory_others_writeable=false ;Check wheter script is within DOCUMENT_ROOT check_vhost_docroot=true ;Send minor error messages to browser errors_to_browser=false ;PATH environment variable env_path=/bin:/usr/bin ;Umask to set, specify in octal notation umask=0077 ; Minimum UID min_uid=100 ; Minimum GID min_gid=33 [handlers] ;Handler for php-scripts application/x-httpd-php=php:/usr/bin/php-cgi ;Handler for CGI-scripts x-suphp-cgi=execute:!self /etc/php5/conf.d/default.ini: ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ; Default customized settings ; ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ; Prevent usage of unsecure functions disable_functions = dl,set_time_limit,exec,shell_exec,system,passthru,popen,pclose,proc_open,proc_close,proc_get_status,proc_terminate,proc_nice,posix_kill,posix_mkfifo,pos ix_setpgid,posix_setsid,posix_setuid,diskfreespace,disk_free_space,disk_total_space ; Allow users to upload bigger files upload_max_filesize = 10M ; Don't set old (and deprecated) $HTTP_*_VARS for better performance register_long_arrays = Off ; Set output buffer for better performance output_buffering = 4096 ; Disable $argc and $argv which aren't used by cgi register_argc_argv = Off ; Don't automatically add slashes to all input data, instead use addslashes() for data you are saving to a database magic_quotes_gpc = Off ; Don't hash variables into $_ENV, use getenv() instead variables_order = "GPCS" ; Log all errors for more stable, predicatable and secure code error_reporting = E_ALL ; Cleaner code allow_call_time_pass_reference = Off ; Don't allow <? ?> style tags for better portability short_open_tag = Off /home/000-suphp/zzz.zzz/web/php.ini ; Lock users in their own home directory open_basedir = /home/zzz.zzz/ doc_root = /home/zzz.zzz/web/ ; Temporary files upload_tmp_dir = /home/zzz.zzz/tmp session.save_path = /home/zzz.zzz/tmp ; Disable $argc and $argv which aren't used by cgi register_argc_argv = Off ; prevent displaying errors in the client browser display_errors = Off log_errors = On error_log = /home/zzz.zzz/logs/php.log