No input file error from dev_appserver.py - php

Question

I am trying to create a helloworld GAE projects to use PHP to connect to a Google Cloud SQL database. I am following the steps found at:
https://developers.google.com/appengine/docs/php/gettingstarted/helloworld
However, whenever I start the dev_appserver.py to test my helloworld.php I eventually get a permission denied error. I am running Cygwin (mintty) on a Win8 (64) machine. I have run chmod -R 777 * on a number of related directories like:
/usr/bin/
c:/Development/appengine-php-sdk-1.8.0/
c:/Development/php/
c:/Development/Php Scripts/helloworld/
Error:
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 551, in __bootstrap_inner
self.run()
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 504, in run
self.__target(*self.__args, **self.__kwargs)
File "/cygdrive/c/Development/appengine-php-sdk-1.8.0/google_appengine/google/appengine/tools/devappserver2/server.py", line 1232, in _loop_adjusting_instances
self._adjust_instances()
File "/cygdrive/c/Development/appengine-php-sdk-1.8.0/google_appengine/google/appengine/tools/devappserver2/server.py", line 1209, in _adjust_instances
self._add_instance(permit_warmup=True)
File "/cygdrive/c/Development/appengine-php-sdk-1.8.0/google_appengine/google/appengine/tools/devappserver2/server.py", line 1087, in _add_instance
expect_ready_request=perform_warmup)
File "/cygdrive/c/Development/appengine-php-sdk-1.8.0/google_appengine/google/appengine/tools/devappserver2/php_runtime.py", line 195, in new_instance
self._check_environment(php_executable_path)
File "/cygdrive/c/Development/appengine-php-sdk-1.8.0/google_appengine/google/appengine/tools/devappserver2/php_runtime.py", line 138, in _check_environment
env={})
File "/cygdrive/c/Development/appengine-php-sdk-1.8.0/google_appengine/google/appengine/tools/devappserver2/safe_subprocess.py", line 61, in start_process
stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 679, in __init__
errread, errwrite)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 1248, in _execute_child
raise child_exception
OSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied
How can I determine what file the permission issue is with?
EDIT
There is no traceback from this new error (now that I am calling the actual exe):
WARNING 2013-06-04 02:21:13,243 api_server.py:329] Could not initialize images API; you are likely missing the Python "PIL" module.
INFO 2013-06-04 02:21:13,252 api_server.py:153] Starting API server at: http://localhost:51615
INFO 2013-06-04 02:21:13,261 dispatcher.py:164] Starting server "default" running at: http://localhost:8080
INFO 2013-06-04 02:21:13,324 admin_server.py:117] Starting admin server at: http://localhost:8000
ERROR 2013-06-04 02:21:13,553 php_runtime.py:199] The PHP runtime is not available because: No input file specified.
Then when I go to localhost:8080 I get this:
`The PHP interpreter specified with the --php_executable_path flag ("/cygdrive/c/Development/php/php-cgi.exe") is not compatible with the App Engine PHP development environment.
No input file specified.`

Answer 1

The problem is in your command line:
appengine-php-sdk-1.8.0/google_appengine/dev_appserver.py --php_executable_path=/cygdrive/c/Development/php/ /cygdrive/c/Development/PhpScripts/helloworld/
Your php_executable_path is not an executable, but a directory. So, GAE tries to run /cygdrive/c/Development/php/ as if it were a program, and gets an EACCES ("permission denied"), exactly as it should.
The fix is to pass /cygdrive/c/Development/php/php.exe (or whatever it's called) instead.
I believe your new problem is exactly what I mentioned in an early comment, and in the earlier version of this answer: You're mixing cygwin and native code in ways that don't work.
In particular, it looks like you're running a native Windows version of GAE in a cygwin Python interpreter, and then pointing it at a native Windows php-cgi interpreter. It's hard to guess exactly which one of these multiple mismatches is to blame, but it's quite likely that one of them is. So, either:
Use a native Windows Python, or
Use a cygwin/POSIX GAE and a cygwin PHP interpreter.