QUOTE (Squire)
There should be some (older) tutorials around here somewhere about compiling PHP from the source. They'll still apply to compiling new versions of PHP
Basically you need to download the version of PHP you need from php.net, then type or cut and paste ./configure commands into your SSH command line client, then make and make install.
If any of the modules you want to add into the mix are not already on your server you'll need to install those prior to compiling PHP. You also may need to do a bit of editing of you php.ini file. And of course you'll need to restart apache after you're done compiling php to get everything to take effect.
As a safety procedure I also make a backup copy of the current php.ini, libphp4.so and httpd.conf files prior to compiling PHP. That way if something goes wrong I can put those back into place quickly, restart PHP again and have the older version working in mere seconds.
FTR, if the only need to add one or two things into the mix you may be able to find an RPM version of that for your server type, and install it that way. It really depends upon what you're trying to add into the mix though. You could also grab ATR's PHP RPM source files and build your own RPM that will include the extra things you need.
Should I choose to install php from source: I have custom setting for websites within vhost.conf files; will those be overwritten if I compile from source?
System is rh9/Plesk6.0.2
Thank you!