Changes to INI file handling

PHP 5.3.0 has significantly improved performance
and parsing of INI files, and adds several new syntax features.

• The standard php.ini files have been re-organized and renamed.
  php.ini-development contains settings recommded for use in
  development environments. php.ini-production contains
  settings recommended for use in production
  environments.
• There is now support for
  two special sections: [PATH=/opt/httpd/www.example.com/]
  and [HOST=www.example.com]. Directives set in these
  sections cannot be overridden by user-defined INI files or at
  runtime. More information about these sections can be found
  here.
• zend_extension_debug, zend_extension_debug_ts and zend_extension_ts have been removed. Use the zend_extension
  directive to load all Zend Extensions.
• zend.ze1_compatibility_mode has been removed. If this
  INI directive is set to On, an
  E_ERROR error is emitted at
  startup.
• It is now possible to
  use the full path to load modules using the extension
  directive.
• “ini-variables”
  can now be used almost anywhere in a php.ini file.
• open_basedir
  restrictions may now be tighted at runtime, and the directive is
  now PHP_INI_ALL.
• It is now possible to
  use alphanumeric or variable indices in INI option
  arrays.
• get_cfg_var() is now able to return “array”
  INI options.
• Two new mail directives:
  mail.add_x_header and mail.log,
  have been added.

The following new ini directives have been
added:

• user_ini.filename and
  user_ini.cache_ttl have been added to control the use of
  user INI
  files.
• exit_on_timeout has been added to force Apache 1.x
  children to exit if a PHP execution timeout occurs.
• Added
  mbstring.http_output_conv_mimetype. This directive
  specifies the regex pattern of content types for which mb_output_handler() is activated.
• Added request_order.
  Allows controlling which external variables will be available in
  $_REQUEST.

The following ini directives have new default
values:

• session.use_only_cookies is now set to “1”
  (enabled) by default.
• oci8.default_prefetch has changed from “10” to
  “100”.