Below are the steps to install php5 on a FreeBSD server. We are going to install php 5.1.2 current satble php5 version.

# cd /usr/local/src

# wget http://us2.php.net/get/php-5.1.2.tar.bz2/from/this/mirror (or any other mirror)

# tar -jxvf php-5.1.2.tar.bz2

# cd php-5.1.2/

#5 ) PHP=’/usr/bin/php’ ( result of which php )

# CFG=`$PHP -i | grep configure | sed “s/’//g” | sed “s/–prefix=\/usr//g” | sed “s/’//g” | sed “s/\.\/configure \(.*\)–with-apxs.*apxs \(.*\)/\1 \2/” | sed “s/<tr><td class=\”e\”>Configure Command <\/td><td class=\”v\”>//g” | sed “s/<\/td><\/tr>//g”`

# CFGLINE=”${CFG##* => } –prefix=/usr/local/php5 –exec-prefix=/usr/local/php5 –enable-force-cgi-redirect –enable-discard-path”

# ./configure $CFGLINE

# make

# make install

# cp /usr/local/php5/bin/php /usr/local/cpanel/cgi-sys/php5

# chown root:wheel /usr/local/cpanel/cgi-sys/php5

# cp -f php.ini-recommended /usr/local/php5/lib/php.ini

# Edit /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf to add the below enteries

Action application/x-httpd-php5 “/cgi-sys/php5″

AddType application/x-httpd-php5 .php5

Restart the httpd service.

Now for using php 5 you need to either have the scripts with extension .php5 or need to have the below entry in your .htaccess file

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php5 .php

Reference : – http://devel.webonce.com/php5.txt