Reading over the instructions it appears that PHP needs to reconfigure, which I take to mean that it cannot be used on a virtual server.

Is there a way to use the debugger on a virtual host?

If you have access to php.ini and can enable the DBG extension, then you can debug any virtual host on the remote server. If you do not have access to php.ini, then the answer is unfortunately "no".

That's a no then.

Thanks for your help.

I'm not sure what you meant under reconfigure. If it is configure script to be run with different options, the asnwer is not, you don't need need such reconfigurations. If you meant configuration options in php.ini, the answer is yes. You need to make some changes in php.ini or added new dbg.ini file in /etc/php.d directory to get debugger (as a regular php extension) to be loaded.

Regarding virtual hosts, you can easily get debugger enabled only for specified hosts where you want to debug your scripts and disabled for all the others.

Hello Dmitri,

Maybe you can give me an idea if what I'd like to do is possible.

When I edit files they are sites that are dynamic. The problem with editing them locally is that there is no database, so stepping through the code results in immediate errors.

What I'd like to do is continue to work locally, upload the file, then debug it remotely on a server that host virtual domains using PHPed. Which means that changes to the php.ini are impossible. Loading files outside of the domains folders is difficult, but not entirely impossible.

I'm not sure how to proceed and would appreciate knowing if what I want to do is possible.

You may want to either install copy of the database locally or provide an access to the remote (live) database using ssh tunnel. For example ssh.exe -L3306:localhost:3306 myaccount@myhost will open such tunnel and let you connect to the database as if it was running locally.


it depends on your hosting company service. Please contact them for the instructions on how to install a php extension and have it loaded.