I am attempting to restore connectivity between an Apache based
webserver and a remote Firebird 1.5.x database server using php. Both
the client and server run under LINUX (Fedora Core).

For reasons beyond my knowledge, I am unable to configure php5.x to
use the --with-interbase option.

-------------------------------------------------------------

configure: error: libgds, libib_util or libfbclient not found! Check
config.log for more information.

-------------------------------------------------------------

FYI, my research shows a bug report (28750) for this problem was
logged with the PHP Group in July of 2004.

http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=28750

The bug report was, however, rejected by the PHP Group with a
notation that the problem was caused by 'broken interbase .so's'.


BACKGROUND:

I have successfully reinstalled an Apache 2.x webserver under a
freshly installed Linux (Fedora Core 4) operating system. All
current operating system patches have been applied.

Following firebird.org's documentation for a client-only install
under Linux, I have copied libfbclient.so.1.5.1 from the server
machine's /opt/firebire/lib directory into the /usr/lib directory of
the client machine.

I have also created chained symlinks using the following commands:

ln -s /usr/lib/libfbclient.so.1.5.1 /usr/lib/libfbclient.so.1
ln -s /usr/lib/libfbclient.so.1 /usr/lib/libfbclient.so
ln -s /usr/lib/libfbclient.so /usr/lib/libgds.so.0
ln -s /usr/lib/libfbclient.so /usr/lib/libgds.so

The firebird.msg file from the server installation has been copied to
the /opt/firebird directory on the client machine.

The FIREBIRD environment variable has been created on the client
machine and ponted to /opt/firebird.

Apache 2.x and PHP 5.x have been successfully installed and tested. I
need now to add the --with-interbase extension.

CONFIGURATION ERROR:

In attempting to configure php to use the --with-interbase option, I
have repeatedly hit the following error:

configure: error: libgds, libib_util or libfbclient not found! Check
config.log for more information.

NEED:

I have been unable to resolve or to workaround this problem. I've
literally tried 'everything' (including twice reinstalling the
operating system and all patches), over a 24+ hour period...

I am deeply appreciative of any expert assistance that can be lent in
resolving this issue (and educating this user).

The previous installation done 2+ years ago, compiled without
difficulty.


Thanks....