Resolving the "Call to undefined function timezone_open()" PHP fatal error in the date_api module

I just encountered a PHP fatal error when running my cron.php:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function timezone_open() in /MYSERVERPATH/httpdocs/sites/all/modules/date/date_api.module on line 607

A quick Google search, and I found the issue is documented here. The solution is to enable the Date PHP4 module. But, this issue does not happen in our production environment, so I decided to compare PHP versions:

# on the production server:
$ php -v | head -1
PHP 5.2.8 (cli) (built: Dec  9 2008 14:03:11) 

It turns out, a fully updated installation of Centos 5.2 only supplies PHP 5.1.x. So, I decided to upgrade PHP in my development environment according to this documentation.

I created a new yum repo file:

$ sudo emacs /etc/yum.repos.d/utterramblings.repo

# FILE CONTENTS - START
[utterramblings]
name=Jason's Utter Ramblings Repo
baseurl=http://www.jasonlitka.com/media/EL$releasever/$basearch/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://www.jasonlitka.com/media/RPM-GPG-KEY-jlitka
# FILE CONTENTS - END

And, ran another yum update:

$ sudo yum update
# ...snip...
Resolving Dependencies
# ...snip...
Dependencies Resolved

=============================================================================
 Package                 Arch       Version          Repository        Size 
=============================================================================
Updating:
 apr                     i386       1.2.12-2.jason.1  utterramblings    257 k
 apr-util                i386       1.2.12-5.jason.1  utterramblings    159 k
 httpd                   i386       2.2.8-jason.3    utterramblings    2.5 M
 mod_ssl                 i386       1:2.2.8-jason.3  utterramblings    314 k
 mysql                   i386       5.0.58-jason.2   utterramblings    6.4 M
 mysql-server            i386       5.0.58-jason.2   utterramblings     10 M
 pcre                    i386       7.6-jason.1      utterramblings    562 k
 php                     i386       5.2.6-jason.1    utterramblings    3.7 M
 php-cli                 i386       5.2.6-jason.1    utterramblings    2.6 M
 php-common              i386       5.2.6-jason.1    utterramblings    481 k
 php-devel               i386       5.2.6-jason.1    utterramblings    568 k
 php-gd                  i386       5.2.6-jason.1    utterramblings    320 k
 php-ldap                i386       5.2.6-jason.1    utterramblings     56 k
 php-mbstring            i386       5.2.6-jason.1    utterramblings    1.3 M
 php-mssql               i386       5.2.6-jason.1    utterramblings     61 k
 php-mysql               i386       5.2.6-jason.1    utterramblings    258 k
 php-odbc                i386       5.2.6-jason.1    utterramblings    112 k
 php-pdo                 i386       5.2.6-jason.1    utterramblings    159 k
 php-pear                noarch     1:1.6.2-1.jason.1  utterramblings    418 k
 php-soap                i386       5.2.6-jason.1    utterramblings    342 k
 php-xml                 i386       5.2.6-jason.1    utterramblings    316 k
 php-xmlrpc              i386       5.2.6-jason.1    utterramblings    130 k
 subversion              i386       1.4.4-jason.1    utterramblings    4.3 M

Transaction Summary
=============================================================================
Install      0 Package(s)         
Update      23 Package(s)         
Remove       0 Package(s)         

Total download size: 35 M
Is this ok [y/N]: 

After updating all these packages, I checked out my new PHP version:

$ php -v | head -1
PHP 5.2.6 (cli) (built: May  5 2008 10:32:59) 

Now, my PHP fatal error has been resolved :)

Fatal error: Call to undefined function timezone_open - again

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 10:31.

Hi all,

I follow guide and I update without error from 5.1.6 to 5.2.14: complete!
But when I ask PHP version:

# php -v Failed loading /usr/lib/php/modules//php_ioncube_loader_lin_5.1.so: /usr/lib/php/modules//php_ioncube_loader_lin_5.1.so: undefined symbol: zend_unmangle_property_name_ex PHP 5.2.14 (cli) (built: Aug 27 2010 16:40:16) Copyright (c) 1997-2010 The PHP Group Zend Engine v2.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2010 Zend Technologies

Can someone give me a tip?

Best,

Biliards.

new version

Submitted by Eric.London on Fri, 10/01/2010 - 18:49.

Looks like you need to install a new version of Ioncube: http://www.ioncube.com/loaders.php

another error on a new virtual machine

Submitted by Eric.London on Tue, 06/23/2009 - 07:44.

I just setup a new Centos virtual machine and I encountered a similar error:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function date_create() in /var/www/my/path/httpdocs/sites/all/modules/date/date_api.module on line 642

Sure enough, fresh install of Centos comes with PHP 5.1.6:

Eric@VirtualBox-Centos ~]$ php -v
PHP 5.1.6 (cli) (built: Apr  7 2009 08:00:04) 
Copyright (c) 1997-2006 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.1.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2006 Zend Technologies

Thanks It is working fine for

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 10/07/2009 - 04:52.

Thanks

It is working fine for me.

Thanks a lot for your great article