PHP fails when upgraded to 5.4 - php

Question

I am using PHP with MySQL to pull programs, courses, etc. on 2003 box with PHP 5.2. I am transferring my site to a new 2008 box with PHP 5.4 (because of injection exploits on database). My data still pulls to my site (programs, courses etc) from my new server.
The issue is I have a page that is for login and will not load (HTTP 500 error). I have traced back to section of code that kicks out and believe it is the session_start(). I know in 5.3 it changed and will now return false if it fails to start instead of the previous true.
I've tried echoing out what loads line by line with each variable since I can compare it with the two versions. I've tried starting the session at the beginning. Ending it before my code, etc. It seems simple, but I haven't got it to work yet.
Here's the beginning of my page "login-inc-header.php":
<?php
if(!isset($session_started)) $session_started = session_start();
// avoids duplicate pstings
header("Cache-Control: no-cache, must-revalidate"); // HTTP/1.1
header("Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT"); // Date in the past
ini_set("display_errors", "1");
if(!isset($requires)) $requires = "User";
include_once("includes/handleLogin.php");
include_once("../includes_app/db_settings.php");
?>
If I remove this block, The page will load just without my login boxes. Pages works perfect in version 5.2. Ideas?
My db_settings:
<?php
//$site_root = "/var/www/html/";
$site_root = "C:\\Inetpub\\wwwroot\\"; //changed 12-13-13 for new server
//$site_root = substr($_SERVER['PATH_TRANSLATED'], 0, (-1 * strlen($_SERVER['PATH_INFO'])));
$site_url = "http://10.20.251.60/";
include_once($site_root."includes_app/adodb/adodb.inc.php");
$db =& ADONewConnection('mysql');
$db->Connect("localhost", "####", "####", "####");
$db->SetFetchMode(ADODB_FETCH_ASSOC);
// for mysql only...make sure we are NOT in strict mode
$db->Execute("SET sql_mode=''");
$tblprefix = "";
$extraFieldLabHours = true;
$extraFieldOBIHours = true;
$extraFieldsPrereqCoreq = true;
$extraFieldProgramRequirements = true;
$maxCourseCodeLength = 4;
$maxCoursePrefixLength = 4; // 11-05-10 added this line to fix prefix length
$exportReport[$site_url.'includes_app/html_word_export.php'] = "Export for Microsoft Word 2007";
$exportReport[$site_url.'includes_app/html_rtf_export.php'] = "Export for Adobe InDesign CS2";
$exportReport[$site_url.'directory/print.php'] = "Export Directory to HTML";
$sysadmin_email = "gntc#gntc.edu";
$extraModuleEmployeeDirectory = true;
$extraModuleCampusAlert = true;
$extraFieldAtAGlance = true;
$areas = array();
$configAreasResult = $db->Execute("SELECT dbName, displayName FROM ".$tblprefix."areas ORDER BY sequence");
while($configRow = $configAreasResult->fetchRow()) $areas[$configRow['dbName']] = $configRow['displayName'];
$program_types = array();
$configProgramTypesResult = $db->Execute("SELECT dbName, displayName FROM ".$tblprefix."program_types ORDER BY sequence");
while($configRow = $configProgramTypesResult->fetchRow()) $program_types[$configRow['dbName']] = $configRow['displayName'];
$extraFieldCampus = array();
$configCampusesResult = $db->Execute("SELECT displayName FROM ".$tblprefix."campuses ORDER BY sequence");
while($configRow = $configCampusesResult->fetchRow()) $extraFieldCampus[] = $configRow['displayName'];
$extraFieldEmployeeOfficeHours = true;
$extraFieldEmployeeBio = true;
$extraFieldEmployeePicture = true;
$extraFieldFoptNumRequirements = true;
$alternateTitleGeneralCoreCourses = "General Core Curriculum";
$alternateTitleOccupationalCourses = "Occupational Curriculum";
$extraModuleCampusAlert = true; // added on 3-10-10 to make campus alert feature work
$alternateTitleEmployeeEducation = "Credentials"; $showBannerID = true;
$deeperMenus = true;
$importModules = array();
$importModules['import_courses_xml.php'] = "Courses XML";
$importModules['import_employees_xml.php'] = "Employees XML";
$extraModuleDivisions = true;
$gntc_local_upload_dir = $site_root."uploads/";
$gntc_web_upload_dir = $site_url."uploads/";
$exportReport[$site_url.'includes_app/phone_sheet_csv.php'] = "Phone Sheet CSV";
?>
Log File:
[16-Jan-2014 21:17:46 UTC] PHP Warning: include_once(includes/handleLogin.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\login\includes\header.php on line 8
[16-Jan-2014 21:17:46 UTC] PHP Warning: include_once(): Failed opening 'includes/handleLogin.php' for inclusion (include_path='.;C:\php\pear') in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\login\includes\header.php on line 8
[16-Jan-2014 21:17:46 UTC] PHP Warning: include_once(../includes_app/db_settings.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\login\includes\header.php on line 9
[16-Jan-2014 21:17:46 UTC] PHP Warning: include_once(): Failed opening '../includes_app/db_settings.php' for inclusion (include_path='.;C:\php\pear') in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\login\includes\header.php on line 9
[16-Jan-2014 21:17:46 UTC] PHP Notice: Undefined variable: title in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\login\includes\header.php on line 16
[16-Jan-2014 21:17:46 UTC] PHP Notice: Undefined variable: title in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\login\includes\header.php on line 159
I noticed that this referenced PEAR, which in not installed by default like older versions. Could this be the issue?

Answer 1

You have put this as your site root
$site_root = "C:\\Inetpub\\wwwroot\\";
Try putting
$site_root = "http://yourhost/folder_name/"