launchd and PHP

Question

launchd and PHP

I'm trying to get launchd to launch a php script in the WebServer/Documents/ folder of our server. I need the script to run every 6 hours and have been using lingon to create the plist files. I know there are issues with times and dates with launchd but I can't even get the script to run once. Does launchd work with PHP and Apache? If not, what should I look into.

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

PowerMac G5, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Oct 3, 2007 7:54 AM

Reply

Answer 1

jaydisc

Level 4

1,464 points

Oct 4, 2007 6:04 AM in response to mikeydiamonds

If you are using launchd to run the script via the php command line tool, then Apache is not relevant. Why don't you post your launchd.plist and we can take it from there.

Reply

Answer 2

Oct 4, 2007 7:00 AM in response to jaydisc

here is the plist:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.curaelase.phpreply</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/Library/WebServer/Documents/curaelase.com/includes/messages.php</strin g>
</array>
<key>StartInterval</key>
<integer>3600</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

I think I am very lost! Thanks for your help.

Reply

Answer 3

jaydisc

Level 4

1,464 points

Oct 7, 2007 3:30 AM in response to mikeydiamonds

That looks fine.

Does the file have execute privileges?

What happens when you manually type "/Library/WebServer/Documents/curaelase.com/includes/messages.php" in Terminal?

Reply

Answer 4

Oct 8, 2007 7:13 AM in response to jaydisc

the file permissions are set to 777

when i type directly into the terminal i get error messages:
/fullpath/messages.php: line 1: ?PHP: No such file or directory
/fullpath/messages.php: line 3: include: command not found
/fullpath/messages.php: line 4: syntax error near unexpected token `('
/fullpath/messages.php: line 4: `$conn = mysql_connect($database_path, $database_user, $database_pass) or die('Error connecting to mysql');'

when i execute the file via the browser (firefox) it does what is expected with no errors

also i'm working from my local machine, in the meantime i'll upload to the server and test from there (Mac OS X Server 10.4.10)

thanks again for taking the time to help me with this!

Reply

Answer 5

jaydisc

Level 4

1,464 points

Oct 8, 2007 4:03 PM in response to mikeydiamonds

It looks like OS X doesn't realize it's a PHP file, so let's specifically run it with the php command. Try this in Terminal:

php /Library/WebServer/Documents/curaelase.com/includes/messages.php

Let's see if that works.

Reply

Answer 6

Oct 9, 2007 12:02 PM in response to jaydisc

That worked, no errors, sent the email, the whole nine yards. So how do I tie in the plist to re-create the terminal action you gave?

Thanks again!

Reply

Answer 7

jaydisc

Level 4

1,464 points

Oct 9, 2007 1:41 PM in response to mikeydiamonds

Like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
 <dict>
 <key>Label</key>
 <string>com.curaelase.phpreply</string>
 <key>ProgramArguments</key>
 <array>
 <string>/usr/bin/php</string>
 <string>/Library/WebServer/Documents/curaelase.com/includes/messages.php</string>
 </array>
 <key>StartInterval</key>
 <integer>3600</integer>
 </dict>
</plist>

Reply

Answer 8

Oct 10, 2007 8:16 AM in response to jaydisc

Awesome! I was just missing the piece to tell the command line to use PHP.

Thanks jaydisc!

Reply

Answer 9

jaydisc

Level 4

1,464 points

Oct 10, 2007 3:06 PM in response to mikeydiamonds

Excellent. Don't forget to mark the question as answered.

Reply