After reviewing
http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.import-request-variables.php I
was wondering if simply including this line at the top of all scripts

    import_request_variables("gP", "");

would eliminate the potential problem I would have if
register_globals gets turned off unexpectedly?

Other than the security reasons, is there any disadvantage to adding
this line?

John Hughes

--- Philip Olson <philip@[...].com>  wrote:
>  > I have several scripts that take it for granted PHP will assign
>  > variables to the information in the URL as in your example $a
>  from
>  > example.com/foo.php?a=apple
>  
>  Okay, so they depend on the behavior that register_globals 
>  provides.
>  
>  > Will these scripts fail when my commercial Web host upgrades 
>  > from PHP 4.1.x to 4.2?
>  
>  It's not a matter of PHP versions, it's a matter of a 
>  simple PHP directive.  PHP 4.2.0 defaults to 
>  register_globals = off, this does not mean a host 
>  has to go by this default.  Ask them if it will be 
>  changing, odds are it will not without a warning.
>  
>  > If so, can I 'upgrade' my scripts now (again, PHP 4.1.x) to use 
>  > $food = $_GET['a'] or $food = $_POST['a'] and prevent everything 
>  > from crashing when PHP 4.2 is installed?
>  
>  Yes you can.  I eluded to import_request_variables() and 
>  extract(), two functions that will allow you to do such 
>  things.  Please look them up in the manual (links below).
>  Also consider $_REQUEST, see the manual for details.
>  
>  Also note that if you really want register_globals = on 
>  and the host has it off, you _may_ (depending on the hosts 
>  configurations) be able to use .htaccess (or equivalent) 
>  with something like:
>  
>    php_flag register_globals on
>    
>  Yes there are a lot of options, variety is the spice of life.
>  
>  Regards,
>  Philip Olson
>  
>  


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