# How to debug php.ini problems?

**URL:** <https://www.phphelp.com/t/how-to-debug-php-ini-problems/18437>\
**Category:** PHP Installation and Configuration\
**Created:** [September 26, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://www.phphelp.com/t/how-to-debug-php-ini-problems/18437 "2012-09-26T02:11:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![system](https://www.phphelp.com/uploads/default/original/2X/2/243e9ed5d93c5653ce3186f18df16e019ce38445.png) [@system](https://www.phphelp.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://www.phphelp.com/t/how-to-debug-php-ini-problems/18437/1 "2012-09-26T02:11:13Z")

</div>

Hey Guys,

Thanks in advance if anyone has any pointers!

I’ve got PHP running on my local OSX 10.8 machine, and all was running fine. I made what seems like a no-op change, and it is causing major problems.

In /etc/, there is a file called php.ini.default. The file does not appear to be in use:

`root /etc $ php --ini
Configuration File (php.ini) Path: /etc
Loaded Configuration File: (none)
Scan for additional .ini files in: (none)
Additional .ini files parsed: (none)`

In order to add an extension I was told I needed to first copy that file to php.ini, and then modify it. I did the following:

`root /etc $ cp /etc/php.ini.default /etc/php.ini
root /etc $ apachectl restart
root /etc $ php --ini
Configuration File (php.ini) Path: /etc
Loaded Configuration File: /private/etc/php.ini
Scan for additional .ini files in: (none)
Additional .ini files parsed: (none)
`

But now when i visit my local webserver, it is dumping php files as plain text… it is no longer parsing PHP!

Does anyone know any tools or methods for debugging the php.ini file? I am a noob when it comes to this sort of thing…

Thanks in advance!