On the PHP::Impact blog Federico has posted a sort of reminder about a method you can use to run PHP scripts as different users on the same system - suPHP.

suPHP is a tool for executing PHP scripts with the permissions of their owners. It consists of an Apache module (mod_suphp) and a setuid root binary (suphp) that is called by the Apache module to change the uid of the process executing the PHP interpreter.

suPHP runs as an Apache module and works with the local server's permission system to restrict script access to whatever the user's allowances are. He links to this tutorial for more information on setting it up.

Stuart Herbert has posted about a very helpful method server admins can use out there to not only help secure their server but possibly make their web hosting users more happy in the long run - using suphp on a shared server (security).

The challenge with securing a shared hosting server is how to secure the website from attack both from the outside and from the inside. [...] This has created a gap that a number of third-party solutions have attempted to fill. One of the oldest of these is suphp, created by Sebastian Marsching.

He works through the whole process - the installation (this is all on a Gentoo linux system), configuring for your Apache install, changing Apache to make it work with suphp and finally some benchmarks and parting comments concerning its use.

On her blog today Nessa has written up a tutorial on getting SuPHP working along with cPanel on your system.

I wrote this tutorial a while back and figured it would be good to post because suPHP is growing more popular as an alternative to phpSuExec. The instructions assume that you are on a Linux cPanel server and are familiar with how to install PHP, but do not want to use EasyApache’s suPHP installer in WHM.

It's a long process but a lot of it is just configuration changes and grabbing the right software. Every line of each of the config files you'll need to change is there ready to cut and paste into your files as well as the command line calls you'll need to make to configure/compile and move files to where they need to go.

On her blog today Nessa has written up a tutorial on getting SuPHP working along with cPanel on your system.

I wrote this tutorial a while back and figured it would be good to post because suPHP is growing more popular as an alternative to phpSuExec. The instructions assume that you are on a Linux cPanel server and are familiar with how to install PHP, but do not want to use EasyApache’s suPHP installer in WHM.

It's a long process but a lot of it is just configuration changes and grabbing the right software. Every line of each of the config files you'll need to change is there ready to cut and paste into your files as well as the command line calls you'll need to make to configure/compile and move files to where they need to go.

On HowToForge.com today, there's a new tutorial on getting suPHP to work with both PHP4 and PHP5 installations.

The tutorial steps you through the process - installation of apache (with apt-get), disabling the built-in PHP, installing apxs, installation of PHP4-CGI, and, finally suPHP. From there, it's all just configuration of the different packages up to a finished, working install.

On HowToForge.com today, there's a new tutorial on getting suPHP to work with both PHP4 and PHP5 installations.

The tutorial steps you through the process - installation of apache (with apt-get), disabling the built-in PHP, installing apxs, installation of PHP4-CGI, and, finally suPHP. From there, it's all just configuration of the different packages up to a finished, working install.

Stuart Hebert of the Gentoo blog has posted this new item as a reminder to all of those naysayers out there that didn't think it could be done that PHP4 and PHP5 can live together happily on the same box.

As an illustration of its possiblity, he points to this article from Andreas Korthaus showing how it's done under various different types of installs (Apache/CGI, Aapche/suphp).

Stuart Hebert of the Gentoo blog has posted this new item as a reminder to all of those naysayers out there that didn't think it could be done that PHP4 and PHP5 can live together happily on the same box.

As an illustration of its possiblity, he points to this article from Andreas Korthaus showing how it's done under various different types of installs (Apache/CGI, Aapche/suphp).