I'm working on a command line PHP script and I've come to realize that there is no readline capability compiled into the php5-cli package. That's too bad, as command line php usage is gaining a lot of popularity.
From what I've read, this may be due to licensing issues, which is also too bad.
Why do I want PHP5 readline support? Mostly so that when using interactive php command line scripts, I can use the "up arrow" keystroke to recall my last command, as well as tab completion. Those are my favorite things about the command line and what make it such an efficient way to interact with computers.
UPDATE: I was able to compile and install readline as a module! That makes creating command line PHP applications much easier.
./configure --disable-cgi --enable-cli --with-readline=shared,/usr/include/readline/
Control file:
Package: php5-readline Version: 5.2.3 Section: web Priority: optional Architecture: i386 Depends: php5-cli (>=5.2), libreadline5 Maintainer: Albert Lash Description: PHP 5 Readline Shared Object Helpful in the creation of interactive command line scripts written in PHP.
Package contents:
php5-readline php5-readline/etc php5-readline/etc/php5 php5-readline/etc/php5/conf.d php5-readline/etc/php5/conf.d/readline.ini php5-readline/usr php5-readline/usr/lib php5-readline/usr/lib/php5 php5-readline/usr/lib/php5/20060613+lfs php5-readline/usr/lib/php5/20060613+lfs/readline.so php5-readline/DEBIAN php5-readline/DEBIAN/control
Note: The above debian package was created with my very limited experience! Use at your own risk!
UPDATE November 12, 2007: Thanks to an email exchange with Felipe (see my new post on the php5-xsltcache package), the licensing issue with a php5-readline has been confirmed. So this package will not make it into the debian repositories. See debian bug report #341864 regarding php5-readline licensing issues.
I tried downloading the package, but get a 404. I would really like to get my hands on this package.
Hi Troels, thanks for the heads up. Try it now, should be fixed. Might have to refresh.
I cannot get the debian Packeg through this Link it redirects to another Page
Hi outsider - thanks for the heads up. I fixed it so you should be able to download it now.
I plan to update this package with one of these:
http://www.s11n.net/editline/
http://www.thrysoee.dk/editline/
to free it from license issues.
You rock! I've been looking for this in all of Debian's package repositories.
Thanks for compiling this package!
- Charlie
Thank you. This is a help.