On Mon, 22 Mar 2010, Richard Quadling wrote:
> On 21 March 2010 14:15, Robert P. J. Day <[email protected]> wrote:
> > i wasn't suggesting reproducing the entire command-line section.
> > i was more thinking along the lines of something early in the
> > installation section, maybe a very first section, "how can you
> > tell if you have PHP installed already?" if people are truly
> > beginners, they may not even *know* if PHP is on their system. so
> > a simple sequence of commands they can run, with a rationale for
> > them, such as:
> >
> > $ type php # is it here and where is it?
> > $ php -v # what version is it?
> > $ php -m # what modules are loaded?
> > $ php -h # get general help
> >
> > not only would this get a new reader at least typing a few
> > commands, but you can recommend that if they *do* need to install,
> > they can re-use this list as a sanity check to verify the install
> > went well. you might also mention that when they eventually ask
> > for help, people will ask them these very questions, "what version
> > are you running? what modules are loaded?"
>
> For windows, the "type php" isn't the same command.
>
> Windows "type" is similar to "cat".
>
> Assuming that PHP _is_ in the path, then, at the command line ...
>
> FOR %A IN (PHP.EXE) DO @ECHO %~$PATH:A
>
> will produce output of ...
>
> C:\PHP5\php.exe
i'm aware it wouldn't work the same way under windows, i was just
trying to propose a simple sanity test someone could run to verify
that PHP seemed to be installed and working properly. naturally, you
can tweak that text accordingly.
and regarding installation, i would *strongly* encourage readers to
install from packages if they can, leaving downloading and building
the source as a last resort only. virtually every OS these days
should have PHP and related packages ready to go.
rday
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Robert P. J. Day Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
Linux Consulting, Training and Kernel Pedantry.
Web page: http://crashcourse.ca
Twitter: http://twitter.com/rpjday
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