Chapter 18. PHP on Disparate Platforms

There are many reasons to use PHP on a Windows system, but the most common is that you want to develop web applications on your Windows desktop. PHP development on Windows is just as doable these days as it is on a Unix platform. PHP plays very well on Windows, and PHP’s supporting cast of server and add-on tools is just as Windows-friendly. Having a PHP system working on any of its supported platforms is simply a matter of preference. Setting up and developing with a PHP environment on Windows is very easy to do, as PHP is extremely cross-platform friendly, and installation and configuration are becoming simpler all the time. The relatively recent appearance on the market of Zend Server CE (Community Edition) for multiple platforms has been a wonderful help in establishing a common installation platform on all the major operating systems.

Writing Portable Code for Windows and Unix

One of the main reasons for running PHP on Windows is to develop locally before deploying in a production environment. As many production servers are Unix-based, it is important to consider writing your applications so that they can operate on any operating platform with minimal fuss.

Potential problem areas include applications that rely on external libraries, use native file I/O and security features, access system devices, fork or spawn threads, communicate via sockets, use signals, spawn external executables, or generate platform-specific graphical user interfaces. ...