browser ask if you want to download the php file instead of displaying it

[dcbc]

hellow i am linux newbie.i want to learn php.
i use ubuntu ultimate edition 1.5
so i didn't install apache php etc.they came with the package.


when i save a file in /var/www directory
and try to view the page by
http://localhost/hello.php

the web browser(Firefox) asks if i want to download the php file instead of displaying it?
what should i do?

i checked this site

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ApacheMySQLPHP
Troubleshooting

Does your browser ask if you want to download the php file instead of displaying it? If Apache is not actually parsing the php after you restarted it, install libapache2-mod-php4. It is installed when you install the php4 package, but may have been removed inadvertently by packages which need to run a different version of php. You may also need to actually enable it, by doing sudo a2enmod php4 followed by sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart. Be sure to clear your browser's cache before testing your site again.



^ tried the above solution.but nothing happend.

please help

[topnotcher]

Your problem is likely that although you have the module installed (and why install the php4 mod instead of 5?), you don't have it enabled.

At any rate, your problem is indicative of the fact that the apache server doesn't know how to handle a .php file. The following line must be present in your httpd.conf:

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

Further, you probably have not enabled the module. (LoadModule directive required.)

I haven't personally used ubuntu (and never intend to), but I do happen to admin some debian boxes (I hate debian too). On the debian boxes, the /etc/apache2 directory contains a mods-available and a mods-enabled directory. In my mods-available directory, I have a php5.load file and a php5.conf file. The .conf file has the above AddType directive, and the .load has the LoadModule. The apache2.conf file Includes *.load and *.conf from mods-enabled, so to enable the php 5 module, I would simply :

[as root]
cd /etc/apach2
ln -s mods-available/php5.load mods-enabled/php5.load
ln -s mods-available/php5.conf mods-enabled/php5.conf
/etc/init.d/apache2 reload


--Greg