How can I determine if a function is available?

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Apr 9, 2007, at 03:06, Landon Fuller wrote:

> On Apr 9, 2007, at 12:46 AM, Ryan Schmidt wrote:
>
>> My preliminary patch for php5 is attached to this ticket:
>>
>> https://trac.macosforge.org/projects/macports/ticket/8599
>>
>> However I still need a fix that will let it work with either MP  
>> 1.4.0 or trunk.
>>
>> Also would like advice regarding any ways to reduce the size of  
>> the patch. I'm concerned about the duplication of the apache,  
>> apache2 and fastcgi options. You'll see what I mean if you look in  
>> the patch...
>
> Is there any way to do this by patching php5's build system? That  
> was the simple fix for the zlib port.
> command/command_exec/et al should probably remain internal API.

My understanding is that this is absolutely completely totally  
impossible with the current PHP build system.  See the response from  
the PHP teammember at the bottom of this bug report:

http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=30682

And this one:

http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=35150

The entire build system seems designed around the assumption that one  
SAPI will be made, not more than one. (This observation based on  
briefly examining the contents of Makefile after running configure.)  
If the PHP team, which has extensive experience with their build  
system, cannot get it to build more than one SAPI at once, then  
there's no hope for me to do so, as I have no experience with how  
their build system works internally.

Which is why I'm looking for a solution within MacPorts, using which  
I have been able to create a solution, in the form of the patch  
attached to the ticket. I'm just looking for the most elegant way to  
construct the patch, and any assistance in that direction would be  
appreciated.

If the MacPorts commands I've found and used here are considered to  
be internal and subject to change, then I request a public API by  
which I can do what I'm trying to do.