php5 & "port test php5"

[drf]

Hi,

   My setup:   Mac Mini, 10.4.11, Xcode 2.5, GCC 4, MacPorts 1.7

Everything compiles fine, there are some complaints about signedness from 
the compiler, but it all looks ok.  But when I run the PHP test suite, 
over 70 tests fail, including ones I wouldn't really expect, like on the 
function easterdate().  I can not find any hints anywhere on what might be 
happening, so I'm wondering if these tests really are that important. 
Should a completely default, standard, stock install of php5 with MacPorts 
pass all the PHP self tests fine?

The thing is, when I set up everything myself (not using MacPorts to 
compile php5) the same set of tests failed - the config of php5 did 
reference various macport installed libraries, etc.  I am now at the point 
where I am wondering if I ought to toss all of MacPorts and try to install 
everything myself that is needed to compile php5.

So any advice, pointers on where to look, or hints on 64 bit vs 32 would be 
greatly appreciated

TIA
doug