Shell Programming and Scripting

Hi guys,
This is my first post in this forum.
Recently i come across one interesting advantage of PHP that it is the simplest yet powerful language to communicate with linux .

However my knowledge of PHP is very weak.

Can u please guide me about following queries.
1)which version of PHP should i install on my linux machine.
2)I heard sometime php get installed while installing web server(correct me if i m wrong).
If it is already install how do i check the version of PHP?
3)How do i check web server version(Most probably i will be working on Apache web server).
4)How do i check MySql version installed in my machine?
If it is not installed in my machine which version will be best suited to communicate with PHP.

My linux machine specification is as follows.
uname -o
GNU/Linux
lsb_release -a
LSB Version: :core-3.0-ia32:core-3.0-noarch:graphics-3.0-ia32:graphics-3.0-noarch
Distributor ID: EnterpriseEnterpriseAS
Description: Enterprise Linux Enterprise Linux AS release 4 (October Update 7)
Release: 4
Codename: OctoberUpdate7
Thanks in advance.

php -v will give you the PHP version.
mysql -e status|grep 'Server version' will give you mysql version.
httpd -v will give you Apache version.

Which PHP/MySQL version to install is up to your need and requirement. I will always install the latest versions.

To install all the three... check out www.lamphowto.com/

Thanks you very much for your information.

Please find the output of the given command.

I think the reason why i m getting error to find my sql version is because my application is using oracle xe as database .Is there any way i can connect php to oracle xe? I think i can achieve this using jsp or asp.net but i m more concern about running command through web browser.

httpd -v
Server version: Apache/2.0.52
Server built: Jun 11 2008 19:01:13

mysql -v
ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

php -v
PHP 4.3.9 (cgi) (built: Sep 20 2007 06:44:48)
Copyright (c) 1997-2004 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v1.3.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2004 Zend Technologies

---------- Post updated at 01:42 AM ---------- Previous update was at 01:41 AM ----------

Please find the output of the given command.

I think the reason why i m getting error to find my sql version is because my application is using oracle xe as database .Is there any way i can connect php to oracle xe? I think i can achieve this using jsp or asp.net but i m more concern about running command through web browser.

httpd -v
Server version: Apache/2.0.52
Server built: Jun 11 2008 19:01:13

mysql -v
ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

php -v
PHP 4.3.9 (cgi) (built: Sep 20 2007 06:44:48)
Copyright (c) 1997-2004 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v1.3.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2004 Zend Technologies

---------- Post updated at 02:02 AM ---------- Previous update was at 01:42 AM ----------

I m running following Apache web server version.
How would i find the root directory of Apache server to put my web pages.
Please help.

You want to find Oracle version?

Loginto SQL PLUS and then issue this command

SQL> select banner from v$version

OR

SQL> SELECT * FROM sys.SM_$VERSION;

Also this will give you apache document root

# grep -i 'DocumentRoot' httpd.conf

Thanks .
There are no files in /var/www/html directive.
However i would like create a simple php page and host it on my machine.
Correct me if i m wrong.
1) create a php file say abc.php.
2) Copy it to /var/www/html directory.
3) restart the web server(tomcat).(kindly provide the command if any).
4) access it through url (my machine ip)localhost:8080/abc.ph

I have no experience with tomcat however, you need to set the environment variables. Try this command
export SERVLET_CLASSPATH=$TOMCAT_HOME/lib/servlet-api.jar.

/usr/local/www/apache22/data is default document root for your website.

Also there are a lot of things we need to do when installing php. Please see google for tutorials on installing php. I hope that helps.

Thanks for you reply.
In my environment Tomcat server is already running .I just want to build a small php page and host it in tomcat server.

I just want simple steps to follow.