Is this a php.ini problem, or ?

[Anon]

I have been getting an "500 Internal Server Error" whenever I use header().

Here's a snippet of my emails with my host:
------------------------------------------
[host support to me]
Re: 500 Internal Server Error

>Make sure that you are not using any .htaccess PHP directives and
that any files associated with your PHP scripts do not have group or
world write permissions.
---------------------------------
[me to support]
>OK. I figured out what the problem is:

Note: no .htaccess PHP directives here folks...

>Anytime I try to use a header() function, I get the error. When I take it out, no error. It is REALLY necessary to be able to write
headers....redirection, authentication, and the list goes on. Two violators below....

1. if($group <= 2) {
header("Location:http://www.foo.com/admin.php");
} else { etc......
2. if (!isset($PHP_AUTH_USER)) {
//IF EMPTY SEND HEADER TO BRING UP DIALOG BOX
header("WWW-Authenticate: Basic Realm=\"foo\",stale=FALSE");
header("HTTP/1.0 401 Unauthorized");
echo "You are not authorized to enter this section of the
site!\n";
exit;
} else { etc....

Both pretty basic - and necessary
------------------------------------
[host to me]
Are you suggesting that we need to recompile PHP to get this working or is this something that can be fixed by modifying the master
php.ini files? Please advise.
END>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I don't know enough about PHP.ini to answer them, and they don't seem to either!
Any Suggestions?

[linus]

I think you need to find out if it's the header() function itself that's causing the error, or the sending of the headers. Try header('foo'); or something and see if you still get a 500.

[Anon]

This works:

header("Location: http://www.foo.com");

This gets the 500 error:

header('WWW-Authenticate: Basic Realm="foobarina"');
header('HTTP/1.0 401 Unauthorized');
echo("Authorization Required.");
exit;

[Anon]

Try Apache/IIS module PHP, not cgi mode.