php return 500 error but no error log

I am having an issue when I have a php application that is returning an internal server error (500) however nothing is showing up in the error log.

Now I know there are error with what I am trying to run, I know I have missing some files and what not but something should show in the apache error log (otherwise how are I supposed to know exactly what I am missing).

I created a test script is errors it in under the same vhost configuration and those error show up fine so everything seems configured right as far as php/apache. Are there certain php errors that does show up in the error log (php is configure to display any type of notice, warning, , error, fatal error, etc...)?

This is running on ubunut 10.04 with the standard apache and php from the ubuntu repo with apt-get.

Solution 1:

Scan your source files to find @.

From php documentation site

Currently the "@" error-control operator prefix will even disable error reporting for critical errors that will terminate script execution. Among other things, this means that if you use "@" to suppress errors from a certain function and either it isn't available or has been mistyped, the script will die right there with no indication as to why.

Solution 2:

Maybe something turns off error output. (I understand that you are trying to say that other scripts properly output their errors to the errorlog?)

You could start debugging the script by determining where it exits the script (start by adding a echo 1; exit; to the first line of the script and checking whether the browser outputs 1 and then move that line down).

Solution 3:

Copy and paste the following into a new .htaccess file and place it on your website's root folder :

php_flag  display_errors                  on
php_flag  display_startup_errors          on

Errors will be shown directly in your page.

That's the best way to debug quickly but don't use it for long time because it could be a security breach.

Solution 4:

If you still have 500 error and no logs you can try to execute from command line:

php -f file.php

it will not work exactly like in a browser (from server) but if there is syntax error in your code, you will see error message in console.