[GRLUG] php.ini won't update

[Adam Tauno Williams]

On Sat, 2013-04-27 at 08:36 -0400, Eric Beversluis wrote:
> From my initial posting of this topic:
> "I've restarted apache and restarted the server several times. That
> hasn't helped. Checking Loaded Configuration File indicates that in
> fact /etc/php.ini is the loaded file."

Ok

> >> If you still have both do a diff and see what the
> >>differences are.
> >The only difference that seems significant to me is that I
> >uncommented a
> >variables_order option in the "Quick Reference Section" rather
> >than
> >changing it further down where it is actually set, not
> >realizing that where I found it wasn't the place to set it.

But here you are making a serious tactical error: "The only difference
****that >>>>seems<<<< significant to >>>>me<<<<****".

Use the tools!  I might make a tee-shirt that says that...

The diff tool is installed, I believe, by default [or nearly] on any
UNIX host.  diff the old and new files to see the total of the *actual*
differences between the files; I speak from long experience, using the
available tools will help avoid the many problems resulting from
'apparent significance'.  If you or I can look at something and NOT SEE
the *significant* difference than either (a) we are looking at the wrong
thing [aka - something else changed] or (b) our 'significance filter' is
getting in the way.  It could be weird line breaks, a missing comment
symbol you've overlooked, non-printable characters, or some other change
you forgot about - some of those changes may not even be visible when
staring at the file [especially for the 100th time].  But diff will tell
you that A is different from B in these 1-2-3.. ways.  That computers
are too stupid to give a whit about 'significance' is a feature, not a
bug; our ventromedial cortex's signal tagging is awesome when spotting
the 500lb dirk cat crouching in the bushes and about to make a meal out
of you and your cave family [picked out and highlighted from all the
other myriad non-threatening things we see at the same time, and
immediately forget about / overlook] - but is *sucks* when it comes to
sitting at a desk and staring at config files.  If diff was sitting next
to you on that rock - he'd be dinner.  Fortunately, no one has sighted a
dirk cat in /usr/bin for a very long time.


-- 
Adam Tauno Williams <awilliam at whitemice.org>