Compiling PHP on Windows 7 with VC9

I just tried this in Windows 7 so here are some of my notes. I am writing this up because it prevents me from having to hunt down solutions by searching for hours. The answers are on Google but they are spread around. This is a one stop list of solutions to common errors encountered when compiling PHP on Windows.


The tutorial that I followed can be found here. It's very good but it assumes too much and has no trouleshooting section. I am attempting to amend that situation here. Once it's more detailed I'll make a wiki revision.


What I used:

• Windows SDK 6.1
• Microsoft  Visual Studio Express 2008
• Wampserver (Apache 2.4 PHP 5.4.16)

c:\php-sdk
     \bin
     \phpdev
         \vc6
         \vc8
         \vc9
             \x64
             \x86
                 \deps
                 \php-5.4.16
                     \build
                     \ext
                     \main
                     \netware
                     \pear
                     \Release_TS
                     \sapi
                     \scripts
                     \tests
                     \TSRM
                     \win32
                     \Zend

Start:

•  Start cmd.exe
• cd C:\php-sdk\phpdev\vc9\x86\php-5.4.16
• start buildconf

Running buildconf:

Error: Script engine not found

c:\php-sdk\phpdev\vc9\x86\php-5.2.16>buildconf
Input Error: There is no script engine for file extension ".js".
Now run 'cscript /nologo configure.js --help'

Solution:

on Windows 7 this problem occurs because a text editor or IDE is the default program for running .js files. To fix this  reset it by typing the following in cmd.exe terminal.

assoc .js = JSFILE

Error: Compiler is not in path

c:\php-sdk\phpdev\vc9\x86\php-5.4.16>configure --with-mp
Saving configure options to config.nice.bat
Checking for cl.exe ... 
ERROR: MS C++ compiler is required

Solution:

Add to path variable

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\bin

Error: The program can't start because the mspd80.dll is missing

Solution:

Add to environmental variable PATH

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE

Error: Bison.exe or flex.exe missing
 
Solution:

Add the location of the php-sdk / bin directory

C:\php-sdk\bin

Extending PHP statically:

If you are compiling PHP and statically compiling some non-core extensions then these errors might occur.

Error: The configuration option is not found

"C:\php-sdk\phpdev\php-X.X.x>configure --enable-hello=shared
Unknown option --enable-hello; please try configure.js --help for a list of valid options"

When I run configure.js --help, I do not see --enable-hello as an option.


Solution:

The config file for windows needs to be named: config.win32. or Create a file in the root of the extensions directory
follow this example:

c:\php-sdk
     \bin
     \phpdev
         \vc6
         \vc8
         \vc9
             \x64
             \x86
                 \deps
                 \php-5.4.16
                     \build
                     \ext
                         \[my extension]
                             config.w32
                         \[another extension]
                             config.w32
                   

An example of the contents of the config.w32 file:

// $Id$
// vim:ft=javascript

ARG_WITH("example", "for example support", "no");
ARG_ENABLE("example-debug", "for debugging support in example", "no")
ARG_WITH("example-extra", "for extra functionality in example", "no")
if (PHP_EXAMPLE != "no") {
    if (CHECK_LIB("libexample.lib", "example", PHP_EXAMPLE) &&
        CHECK_HEADER_ADD_INCLUDE("example.h", "CFLAGS_EXAMPLE", PHP_EXAMPLE + "\\include")) {
        
        if (PHP_EXAMPLE_DEBUG != "no") {
            AC_DEFINE('USE_EXAMPLE_DEBUG', 1, 'Debug support in example');
        }
        
        if (PHP_EXAMPLE_EXTRA != "no" &&
            CHECK_LIB("libexample-extra.lib", "example", PHP_EXAMPLE) &&
            CHECK_HEADER_ADD_INCLUDE("example-extra.h", "CFLAGS_EXAMPLE", PHP_EXAMPLE + ";" + PHP_PHP_BUILD + "\\include") {
            AC_DEFINE('HAVE_EXAMPLEEXTRA', 1, 'Extra functionality in example');
            HAVE_EXTRA = 1;
        } else {
            WARNING( "extra example functionality not enabled, lib not found" );
        }
        
        EXTENSION("example", "example.c");
        if (HAVE_EXTRA == 1) {
            ADD_SOURCES("example-extra.c");
        }
    } else {
        WARNING( "example not enabled; libraries not found" );
    }
}

A simpler form without all the frameworks options

// $Id$
// vim:ft=javascript

ARG_ENABLE("counter", "for counter support", "no");
if (PHP_COUNTER != "no") {
    EXTENSION("counter", "counter.c");
    ADD_SOURCE("counter-util.c");
}

re-run the configure.js --help should display the extension as an option.

--

Running nmake:

Error:Cannot open include file: 'malloc.h':
 
cgi_main.c
c:\php-sdk\phpdev\vc9\x86\php-5.4.16\zend\zend_config.w32.h(29) : fatal error C1
083: Cannot open include file: 'malloc.h': No such file or directory
NMAKE : fatal error U1077: '"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\bin
\cl.exe"' : return code '0x2'
Stop.

Solution:

Make sure that it is not a missing environment variable

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat"

Error: Cannot open include file: 'wsyslog.h':

wsyslog.c
win32\wsyslog.c(60) : fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'wsyslog.h':
No such file or directory
NMAKE : fatal error U1077: '"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\BIN
\cl.exe"' : return code '0x2'
Stop.

Solution:

run buildconf
run configure

That's it. At this point the compile went as it should.