Nginx – PHP-FPM Loading Wrong Configuration File

The nuclear option is to run apache under strace, to see what it's doing when it tries to read the php.ini file.

Run "ps aux" to find the command line for apache, then stop the process. Now run:

# strace -efile -f -o /tmp/apache.log /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start

Request your phpinfo() page in a browser, and then kill the strace using ctrl-c. You can now grep /tmp/apache.log for php.ini and see if there are any errors displayed when it tries to read that file. This will show you problems like the file not being found or permission problems.

If there is an open() call that returns a number, then it would appear that it's reading the file in correctly, and there must be a problem with the file that's preventing php from parsing it correctly, but I'd expect this to be logged in the error log.

From the INSTALL file in php-5.3.1.tar.gz:

13. Setup your php.ini file:

PHP will use the built-in default values if no php.ini file was
placed in the configuration directory. The default location is
/usr/local/lib, if you prefer your php.ini in another location, use 
--with-config-file-path=/some/path in step 10.

The PHP distribution provides two sample php.ini files, you can use them
by
  cp php.ini-development /usr/local/lib/php.ini
or
  cp php.ini-production  /usr/local/lib/php.ini

If you choose one of these php.ini files be certain to read the list
of changes within, as they affect how PHP behaves.

You need to create the php.ini file. This can be done by copying one of the sample files.