Installing Symfony on OVH

OVH is a well-know french host. This tutorial explains how to run a symfony app on a shared server with ovh, and can also be useful to people trying to install symfony on other shared hosts.

1 - OVH doesn't accept the magic_quotes_gpc and register_globals default settings and forbids modifications of theses properties. So you need to add a php.yml in the config/ directory with :

check:
  magic_quotes_gpc:            on
  register_globals:            on

2 - Warning: In the database.yml, the host (or hostspec) can't be localhost but sql# (the hostname given by OVH) and Creole must be installed (in lib/ by exemple - lib/creole and lib/jargon) if you don't use the sandbox.

3 - At OVH, the web root directory is "www". So rename your web directory to www/ and add in config/config.php

$sf_root_dir = sfConfig::get('sf_root_dir');
$sf_upload_dir_name = sfConfig::get('sf_upload_dir_name');
sfConfig::add(array(
  'sf_web_dir_name' => $sf_web_dir_name = 'www',
  'sf_web_dir'      => $sf_root_dir.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.$sf_web_dir_name,
  'sf_upload_dir'   => $sf_root_dir.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.$sf_web_dir_name.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.$sf_upload_dir_name,
));

If it doesn't work and make a fatal error (Class 'sfConfig' not found), add these lines in /apps/myapp/config/config.php (for each application) instead of config/config.php.

4 - Modify the www/.htaccess mod_rewrite config:

SetEnv PHP_VER 5
Options +FollowSymLinks +ExecCGI

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
  RewriteEngine On

  # we skip all files with .something
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} \..+$
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !\.html$
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !frontend_dev\.php
  RewriteRule .* - [L]

  # we check if the .html version is here (caching)
  RewriteRule ^$ /index.html [QSA]
  RewriteRule ^([^.]+)$ /$1.html [QSA]
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

  # no, so we redirect to our front web controller
  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php [QSA,L]
  RewriteRule ^frontend_dev\.php/(.*)$ /frontend_dev.php [QSA,L]

</IfModule>

# big crash from our front web controller
ErrorDocument 500 "<h2>Application error</h2>symfony application failed to start properly"[QSA,L]

Be carefull to have the slash before index.php in your .htaccess rewrite rule

This should be enough since there is no more .php5 extension problem thanks to the "SetEnv PHP_VER 5" (Thanks Emriln).

(Tested on Horrors Of The Black Museum)

If "SetEnv PHP_VER 5" doesn't work :( , ignore step 4 above but continue as follows:

4 - Modify in apps/myapp/config/settings.yml the no_script_name option:

prod:
  .settings:
    no_script_name:           off

5 - For the .php5 extension problem, see http://www.symfony-project.com/trac/ticket/813

6 - Rename index.php to index.php5

7 - Modify the www/.htaccess mod_rewrite config:

Options +FollowSymLinks +ExecCGI

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
  RewriteEngine On

  # we skip all files with .something
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} \..+$
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !\.html$
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !\.php5
  RewriteRule .* - [L]

  # we check if the .html version is here (caching)
  RewriteRule ^$ /index.html [QSA]
  RewriteRule ^([^.]+)$ /$1.html [QSA]
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

  # no, so we redirect to our front web controller
  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php5 [QSA,L]
  RewriteRule ^index\.php5/(.*)$ /index.php5 [QSA,L]
  RewriteRule ^frontend_dev\.php5/(.*)$ /frontend_dev.php5 [QSA,L]

</IfModule>

# big crash from our front web controller
ErrorDocument 500 "<h2>Application error</h2>symfony application failed to start properly"

If a message "No input file specified." appears : (Discussion on Forum)

- Modify the www/.htaccess, by adding the line

mod_gzip_on Off