Couchbase Client Library: PHP 1.1 - Chapter 1. Getting Started

1.1. Downloading and Installation
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1.1. Downloading and Installation

1.1.1. Verifying the PHP SDK

Follow these steps to install and set up the PHP SDK:

Get, Install and Start Couchbase Server. Come back when you are done.
Get and install the C Library. The C SDK is a requirement for the PHP library.
Download the PHP SDK for your system at Develop with Couchbase.
Unpack the archive containing the PHP SDK in the directory of your choice:
```
shell> tar xzf php-ext-couchbase-$system-$arch.tar.gz
```
This creates the directory php-ext-couchbase. This directory includes a file couchbase.so which is the PHP extension for the SDK. Note the path to this file as you will use it to update the PHP configuration file with this path.
Open the php.ini file for your PHP interpreter. This is the initializer for PHP which you will edit. You can get the path with this command:
```
shell> php -i | grep ini
```
The output provided will have the path to the configuration for PHP, for instance:
```
Loaded Configuration File => /private/etc/php.ini
```
Open the php.ini file and add the path to the couchbase.so file:
```
extension=/path/to/couchbase.so
```

Depending on the platform you are using, you may also need to reference the JSON library in your PHP configuration file.

If you are using the Couchbase PHP SDK on Red Hat/CentOS or their derivatives, be aware that JSON encoding for PHP is by default not available to other extensions. As a result you will receive an error resolving the php_json_encode symbol. The solution is to edit the php.ini file to load the JSON library and also load the Couchbase library. For instance, if your extensions are at /etc/php.ini, add the following two lines, in this order, to the file:

extension=/path/to/json.so
extension=/path/to/couchbase.so

The reference to the two extensions must be in this specific order.

Now you are ready to verify your install by creating a small sample script using the PHP SDK.