$PATH environment variable for apache2 on mac

Question

I am trying to get apache/php to recognize the path to my git. I have been researching and looking in all corners of the web and cannot find how to do this. Basically, no matter what I try, when I run echo phpinfo(); the Apache Environment path does not change from /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin. And when I run system('echo $PATH'); in PHP, it reads the same.

System Information:

• Mac OSX (Lion)
• Apache 2 (running as _www)
• PHP 5.3.6

Here is what I have tried editing so far:

• /etc/profile
• ~/.bash_profile
• ~/.profile
• /etc/path
• /etc/path.d/{NEW_FILE}

Nothing I have tried so far has changed the $PATH variable. Any ideas?

SOLUTION

So here is the final solution. I edited the

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist

and added

<key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
<dict>
    <key>PATH</key>
    <string>/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/git/bin</string>
</dict>

Answer 1

Did you update the PATH environment variable of user '_www'? Apache will read environment variables from the user runs itself. Or, it looks like you didn't restart apache after updating PATH environment variable.

• Check out the older discussion :
  • How do I add paths to the Apache PATH variable?
  • Setting environment variables in OS X?

And if you want to modify environment variable in PHP, getenv() and putenv() can be a better choice.

• getenv : http://php.net/manual/en/function.getenv.php

• putenv : http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.putenv.php

  $path = getenv('PATH'); putenv( "PATH=$path:/new_path_that_you_want_to_add" );

Answer 2

A similar problem to what I was having installing Derby. The way I solved it was by opening TextEdit. Select File > Open at this point press Shift + Command + . , this will allow you to view all the documents. Head to the user directory and search for a file called ".profile" . Open it and add the export VARIABLE= Value line for example:

export DERBY_HOME=/opt/local/share/java/derby/

Save the document and restart your terminal to see if the changes went into affect.

Answer 3

You can set the PATH environment variable in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist.

More in the docs.

Answer 4

I created this gist that helped me out from the information above:

https://gist.github.com/srayhunter/5208619

My problem was that PHP was not finding a program that we had installed under /usr/local/bin. Once we did the above it all worked and played nice on mac osx.

Answer 5

for ubuntu server, in /etc/apache2/envvars, for centos server, in /etc/sysconfig/httpd, to add:

export PATH=<your php cli path>

and restart apache

Answer 6

Important note for El Capitan (Apologies for the new answer - I don't have enough Rep to comment)

On OSX 10.11, the /System/Library folder is protected, so the files can't be edited.

You need to:

• Reboot into Recovery Mode (hold CMD + r after the startup sound)
• Once in recovery mode, go to Utilities > Terminal
• Run: csrutil disable
• Reboot back into OSX - you should now be able to change the files
• Once done, go back to recovery mode and run csrutil enable

Hope that helps