A list of the PHP packages to install (OS-specific by default). You'll likely want to install common packages like `php`, `php-cli`, `php-devel` and `php-pdo`, and you can add in whatever other packages you'd like (for example, `php-gd` for image manipulation, or `php-ldap` if you need to connect to an LDAP server for authentication).
If your usage of PHP is tied to a web server (e.g. Apache or Nginx), leave this default value. If you are using PHP server-side or to run some small application, set this value to `false` so this role doesn't attempt to interact with a web server.
The default values for the HTTP server deamon are `httpd` (used by Apache) for RedHat/CentOS, or `apache2` (also used by Apache) for Debian/Ubuntu. If you are running another webserver (for example, `nginx`), change this value to the name of the daemon under which the webserver runs.
If you add `php-fpm` to the `php_packages` list, and would like to run PHP-fpm, as you would with Nginx or as an alternative to `mod_php` in Apache, you can set this variable to `true`, and the `php-fpm` daemon will be enabled and started. You will need to configure PHP-fpm on your own, by editing the config file in `/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf` (for RedHat servers) or replacing it with your own template via Ansible.
(RedHat/CentOS only) If you have enabled any additional repositories (might I suggest geerlingguy.repo-epel or geerlingguy.repo-remi), those repositories can be listed under this variable (e.g. `remi,epel`). This can be handy, as an example, if you want to install the latest version of PHP 5.4, which is in the Remi repository.
By default, all the extra defaults below are applied through the php.ini included with this role. You can self-manage your php.ini file (if you need more flexility in its configuration) by setting this to `false` (in which case all the below variables will be ignored).
When installing APC, depending on the system and whether running PHP as a webserver module or standalone via `php-fpm`, you might need the line `extension=apc.so` in `apc.ini`. If you need that line added, set this variable to true.
Two APC ini directives that are often customized on a system. Set `php_apc_cache_by_default` to 0 to disable APC by default (so you could enable it on a host-by-host basis). Set the `php_apc_shm_size` so it will hold all your application code in memory with a little overhead (fragmentation or APC running out of memory will slow down PHP dramatically).
This Ansible role assumes you're including `php-pecl-apc` in the list of `php_packages`. It's rarely a good idea to run a PHP <5.5installationwithoutsomekindofopcodecache,andAPCworksgreatforPHP5.3and5.4.