[gentoo-user] Difficulty setting up apache, php and joomla

[Peter Humphrey]

Hello list,

I'm setting up a new little box to be a web development server, to develop a 
new website for my choir. I have it running with the old site, hand-crafted 
from HTML and CSS, but after installing joomla into the new site and on 
attempting to open index.php to configure it, as instructed, I get this in 
/var/log/apache2/error_log:

[Fri Mar 24 16:16:36.799232 2017] [:error] [pid 17644:tid 139913741313792] 
[client ::1:34696] PHP Fatal error:  Cannot use Joomla\\String\\String as 
String because 'String' is a special class name in 
/var/www/localhost/htdocs/choir/libraries/vendor/joomla/registry/src/Format/Json.php 
on line 12

I thought I'd set it up right, but clearly I haven't. Is anyone willing to 
help me find my error, please?

# emerge -pv apache php

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies  .... done!
[ebuild   R    ] www-servers/apache-2.4.25:2::gentoo  USE="ssl threads -
debug -doc -ldap (-libressl) (-selinux) -static -suexec" 
APACHE2_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic authn_alias authn_anon authn_core 
authn_dbm authn_file authz_core authz_dbm authz_groupfile authz_host 
authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache cgi cgid dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate 
dir env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config 
logio mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif socache_shmcb speling 
status unique_id unixd userdir usertrack vhost_alias -access_compat -asis -
auth_digest -authn_dbd -authz_dbd -cache_disk -cache_socache -cern_meta -
charset_lite -dbd -dumpio -http2 -ident -imagemap -lbmethod_bybusyness -
lbmethod_byrequests -lbmethod_bytraffic -lbmethod_heartbeat -log_forensic -
macro -proxy -proxy_ajp -proxy_balancer -proxy_connect -proxy_fcgi -
proxy_ftp -proxy_html -proxy_http -proxy_scgi -proxy_wstunnel -ratelimit -
remoteip -reqtimeout -slotmem_shm -substitute -version" APACHE2_MPMS="event 
-prefork -worker" 0 KiB
[ebuild   R    ] dev-lang/php-7.0.15:7.0::gentoo  USE="acl apache2 berkdb 
bzip2 cgi cli crypt ctype curl exif fileinfo filter fpm gd gdbm hash iconv 
ipv6 json mysql mysqli nls opcache pdo phar posix readline session simplexml 
spell sqlite ssl threads tokenizer truetype unicode xml xmlreader xmlwriter 
zip zlib -bcmath -calendar -cdb -cjk -coverage -debug -embed -enchant (-
firebird) -flatfile -ftp -gmp -imap -inifile -intl -iodbc -kerberos -ldap -
ldap-sasl -libedit (-libressl) -mhash -mssql -oci8-instant-client -odbc -
pcntl -phpdbg -postgres -qdbm -recode (-selinux) -sharedmem -snmp -soap -
sockets -systemd -sysvipc -tidy -wddx -webp -xmlrpc -xpm -xslt" 0 KiB

# webapp-config -h localhost -d choir -I joomla 3.4.8

# cat /etc/apache2/vhosts.d/20_choir_vhost.conf
<IfDefine DEFAULT_VHOST>
Listen 80
<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName choir
        Include /etc/apache2/vhosts.d/choir_vhost.include
        <IfModule mpm_peruser_module>
                ServerEnvironment apache apache
        </IfModule>
</VirtualHost>
</IfDefine>

# cat /etc/apache2/vhosts.d/choir_vhost.include
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
DocumentRoot "/var/www/localhost/htdocs/choir"
<Directory "/var/www/localhost/htdocs/choir">
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Includes
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
</Directory>
<IfModule alias_module>
        ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/var/www/localhost/cgi-bin/"
</IfModule>
<Directory "/var/www/localhost/choir/cgi-bin">
        AllowOverride None
        Options None
        Require all granted
</Directory>

# grep OPTS /etc/conf.d/apache2
APACHE2_OPTS="-D DEFAULT_VHOST -D INFO -D SSL -D SSL_DEFAULT_VHOST -D 
LANGUAGE -D SECURITY -D PHP -D INCLUDE -D PROXY -D STATUS"

I haven't yet attempted to get SSL working, preferring to have the basic 
config right first.

The web guides to Apache and PHP on Gentoo are confusing, contradictory and 
out of date with respect to the current software, so I'm having to go slowly 
- and start again at the beginning, repeatedly..

Any pointers gratefully received; thank you.

-- 
Regards
Peter