troubles with var in URL

hi, first, sorry for my english. i have troubles with variables passed into an URL . eg www.mydomain.com/page.php?variable=1 inside page.php i wana print my variables fallow this code : <? echo "Passed variable: ".$variable; ?> now my OS is RadHat 7.3, Apache/1.3.26 (Unix), PHP/4.2.2, MySQL... i install apache server and php fallow this method : - i remove all rpm installed by RedHat (eg Apache & mysql) - in php4 directory => ./configure --enable-calendar --with-apache=../apache_1.3.26 - make - make install - now in apache directory => ./configure --activate-module=src/modules/php4/libphp4.a - make - make install - i copy php.ini from php-4.2.2 direcory into /usr/local/lib - i add Addtype application for php and add DirectoryIndex index.php... into httpd.conf - finally i run Apache daemon thank's for your HELP... julescezar2000@yahoo.fr