So you want to debug your PHP website code with xdebug netbeans? In this post I will explain how to configure XDebug / Apache and NetBeans to start a debug session for your website.

First of all install the necessary components:

apt-get install apache2
apt-get install mysql-server
apt-get install php5-mysql
apt-get install php5-xdebug

Restart the apache webservice and check for any errors:

service apache2 restart

Create a new website configuration in /etc/apache2/sites-available  :

<VirtualHost *:80>
   ServerName www.xdebugger.tst
   ServerAdmin webmaster@xdebugger.tst
   DocumentRoot /var/www/xdebugger/www
   <Directory / >
      Options FollowSymLinks
      AllowOverride None
   </Directory>
   <Directory /var/www/xdebugger/www">
      Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
      AllowOverride All
      Order allow,deny
      allow from all
   </Directory>
   ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
   CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Update your hosts file so you can easily test this new site .Add the following line to the file /etc/hosts :

127.0.0.1           www.xdebugger.tst

Next enable remote debugging with XDebug. Although you just installed XDebug it will be disabled by default.

Create a script index.php  to see your changes to the apache / php configuration in the directory /var/www/xdebugger/www :

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Navigate to http://www.xdebugger.tst

As you can see in the picture above XDebug is not enabled. To enable the XDdebug feature add the following lines (if not already there) to the file /etc/php5/apache2/conf.d/20-xdebug.ini :

zend_extension=xdebug.so
xdebug.remote_enable=on

Now restart your apache service once more; execute the script and check the xdebug.remote_enable  setting:

Execute

sudo service apache2 restart

Navigate to http://www.xdebugger.tst

 

Now goto your netbeans IDE and create a new project:

File -> New project
Category: PHP
Projects: PHP Application with Existing Source
Press Next
Sources Folder: /var/www/xdebugger/www
Project Name: xdebugger
Press Next
Project URL: http://www.xdebugger.tst (same value as the one you added to /etc/hosts!)
Press Finish

Set the main project to the newly created project:

Goto Run -> Set Main Project -> xdebugger

Next start your first debugging session!

Goto Debug -> Debug Main project

Additonal information about configuring NetBenas can be found here