* * * * *
                                        
                             Reason #13 I hate PHP
                                        
I'm making sure that the various branches of “Project: Leaflet [1]” are
consistent when I notice that configuration.php, which allows one to change
various settings, is not displaying at all. There are no errors, just a blank
webpage. Usually, I just run the page at the command line to see what might
be up:

> [spc]XXXXXXXXX:~/projects/nlm/htdocs/nlm>php configuration.php 
> Content-type: text/html
> X-Powered-By: PHP/4.3.9
> 
> [spc]XXXXXXXXX:~/projects/nlm/htdocs/nlm>
> 

Okay, nothing there. Let's see if there's an option to PHP to tell me more:

> [spc]XXXXXXXXX:~/projects/nlm/htdocs/nlm>php -h
> Usage: php [-q] [-h] [-s] [-v] [-i] [-f <file>] 
>        php <file> [args...]
>   -a               Run interactively
>   -C               Do not chdir to the script's directory
>   -c <path>|<file> Look for php.ini file in this directory
>   -n               No php.ini file will be used
>   -d foo[=bar]     Define INI entry foo with value 'bar'
>   -e               Generate extended information for debugger/profiler
>   -f <file>        Parse <file>.  Implies '-q'
>   -h               This help
>   -i               PHP information
>   -l               Syntax check only (lint)
>   -m               Show compiled in modules
>   -q               Quiet-mode.  Suppress HTTP Header output.
>   -s               Display colour syntax highlighted source.
>   -v               Version number
>   -w               Display source with stripped comments and whitespace.
>   -z <file>        Load Zend extension <file>.
> 

Hmm … that “lint [2]” option seems promising. Let's try that.

> [spc]XXXXXXXXX:~/projects/nlm/htdocs/nlm>php -l configuration.php 
> Errors parsing configuration.php
> [spc]XXXXXXXXX:~/projects/nlm/htdocs/nlm>
> 

Well, that was spectacularly informative. Why even bother with the option if
you aren't going to give any useful information [3]?

Sigh.

[1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2008/08/07.1
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lint_programming_tool
[3] http://www.anvari.org/fortune/Quotations_-_Random/977_quote-96-ken-thompson-has-an-automobile-which-he-helped-design.html

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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