Anybody using the Zend Framework (or any other php script using set_include_path() ) might already have experienced problems with set_include_path() at one time or another.

Most Zend Framework implementations (including implementations from the reference guide) are using set_include_path() within the bootloader.php file to setup the correct include path for the Zend Framework. The nice thing is that by doing so you’ll just have to write e.g. require_once(‘Zend/View.php’) for including Zend Framework classes or not even that by just using the great Autoloader feature. In a perfect environment setup you’ll just have to instantiate a new object of any Zend Framework class and it gets loaded automatically (you don’t even have to require/include any additional file as the Autoloader loads classes automatically from within the specified include path). Additionally you extend the include path to a library folder, etc.

Now it happens that in some mysterious server setups you cannot override the pre-defined include path. Neither set_include_path() nor ini_set(‘include_path’, ‘/path/:.’) have any effect on what get_include_path() is holding for you.

In such a case it might help to check you apache config which also can set the php include path. If it is set within the apache config you are out of luck. You simply cannot override it by script anymore. Same applies to setting the include path from within .htaccess. That also disables the ability to set the include path by script.

One thing I have not evaluated yet practically (but which I hope to be accurate in theory) is that you still can pre-define the value within apache config and .htaccess and at the same time allow override by script: just use php_value instead of php_admin_value when pre-defining php values.

The last two days I was one of a few people who had the great pleasure to enjoy the very informative conference about the Semantic Web (aka. Web 2.0/3.0, aka. the Giant Global Graph) in Vienna, Austria: the “Web of Data Practicioners Days”.

Many different point of views, development status of different semantic applications and best of all – available implementations around the topic Semantic Web were presented. The mix of information from introductory details for beginners like myself to insights for pros and senior programmers was perfect.
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After having thought about it for months I finally had some time to setup the Pulpmedia code vault. The primary goal of the platform is to give me and other pulpmedia programmers the chance to give the open source community something back. We are using open source tools and codes for several years now and especially in web development you can drive your whole business on open source products. Besides our usual commitment we are going to publish one or another web dev library from time to time. It may still look a bit rough (hey… I am a programer) but there are many features planned for the future.