This issue comes (too) often on the forums and others help sources : "I must build php by myself to get the mysql extension, because it was build with --without-mysql option". (for various extensions)

Some explanations : the "Configure command" report is exactly what its name tells : the options used with the configure command during the build.

For the RPM available in Fedora / RHEL / CentOS / Remi, php is build several time :

  • A first time, without any shared extension for the apache module.
  • A second time, with a lot of extensions for the php command (php-cli). This extensions are build as shared libraries, which could be used by all modules and can be distributed separately (in sub-package).
  • A third time for the php embedded library
  • A fourth time for the zts module
  • A fifth time for the fpm module

So, for the apache module,  the output is :

'./configure' '--build=x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu' '--host=x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu' '--target=x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu' '--program-prefix='
'--prefix=/usr' '--exec-prefix=/usr' '--bindir=/usr/bin' '--sbindir=/usr/sbin' '--sysconfdir=/etc' '--datadir=/usr/share' '--includedir=/usr/include'
'--libdir=/usr/lib64' '--libexecdir=/usr/libexec' '--localstatedir=/var' '--sharedstatedir=/usr/com' '--mandir=/usr/share/man' '--infodir=/usr/share/info'
'--cache-file=../config.cache' '--with-libdir=lib64' '--with-config-file-path=/etc' '--with-config-file-scan-dir=/etc/php.d' '--disable-debug' '--with-pic'
'--disable-rpath' '--without-pear' '--with-bz2' '--with-curl' '--with-exec-dir=/usr/bin' '--with-freetype-dir=/usr' '--with-png-dir=/usr' '--enable-gd-native-ttf'
'--without-gdbm' '--with-gettext' '--with-gmp' '--with-iconv' '--with-jpeg-dir=/usr' '--with-openssl' '--with-png' '--with-pspell' '--with-expat-dir=/usr'
'--with-pcre-regex=/usr' '--with-zlib' '--with-layout=GNU' '--enable-exif' '--enable-ftp' '--enable-magic-quotes' '--enable-sockets' '--enable-sysvsem'
'--enable-sysvshm' '--enable-sysvmsg' '--enable-track-vars' '--enable-trans-sid' '--enable-yp' '--enable-wddx' '--with-kerberos' '--enable-ucd-snmp-hack'
'--with-unixODBC=shared,/usr' '--enable-memory-limit' '--enable-shmop' '--enable-calendar' '--enable-dbx' '--enable-dio' '--without-mime-magic'
'--with-libxml-dir=/usr' '--with-xml' '--with-apxs2=/usr/sbin/apxs' '--without-mysql' '--without-gd' '--without-odbc' '--disable-dom' '--disable-dba'
'--without-unixODBC' '--disable-pdo' '--disable-xmlreader' '--disable-xmlwriter' '--without-sqlite' '--disable-json'

Even if an extension seems disabled during the build, it could be installed and is listed below.

And in the command line (php --info), the output is:

Configure Command =>  './configure'  '--build=x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu' '--host=x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu' '--target=x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu'
'--program-prefix=' '--prefix=/usr' '--exec-prefix=/usr' '--bindir=/usr/bin' '--sbindir=/usr/sbin' '--sysconfdir=/etc' '--datadir=/usr/share' '--includedir=/usr/include'
'--libdir=/usr/lib64' '--libexecdir=/usr/libexec' '--localstatedir=/var' '--sharedstatedir=/usr/com' '--mandir=/usr/share/man' '--infodir=/usr/share/info'
'--cache-file=../config.cache' '--with-libdir=lib64' '--with-config-file-path=/etc' '--with-config-file-scan-dir=/etc/php.d' '--disable-debug' '--with-pic'
'--disable-rpath' '--without-pear' '--with-bz2' '--with-curl' '--with-exec-dir=/usr/bin' '--with-freetype-dir=/usr' '--with-png-dir=/usr' '--enable-gd-native-ttf'
'--without-gdbm' '--with-gettext' '--with-gmp' '--with-iconv' '--with-jpeg-dir=/usr' '--with-openssl' '--with-png' '--with-pspell' '--with-expat-dir=/usr'
'--with-pcre-regex=/usr' '--with-zlib' '--with-layout=GNU' '--enable-exif' '--enable-ftp' '--enable-magic-quotes' '--enable-sockets' '--enable-sysvsem'
'--enable-sysvshm' '--enable-sysvmsg' '--enable-track-vars' '--enable-trans-sid' '--enable-yp' '--enable-wddx' '--with-kerberos' '--enable-ucd-snmp-hack'
'--with-unixODBC=shared,/usr' '--enable-memory-limit' '--enable-shmop' '--enable-calendar' '--enable-dbx' '--enable-dio' '--without-mime-magic'
'--with-libxml-dir=/usr' '--with-xml' '--enable-force-cgi-redirect' '--enable-pcntl' '--with-imap=shared' '--with-imap-ssl' '--enable-mbstring=shared'
'--enable-mbstr-enc-trans' '--enable-mbregex' '--with-ncurses=shared' '--with-gd=shared' '--enable-bcmath=shared' '--enable-dba=shared'
'--with-db4=/usr' '--with-xmlrpc=shared' '--with-ldap=shared' '--with-ldap-sasl' '--with-mysql=shared,/usr' '--with-mysqli=shared,/usr/bin/mysql_config'
'--with-oci8=shared,instantclient,/usr/lib64/oracle/10.2.0.3/client/lib,10.2.0.3' '--with-pdo-oci=shared,instantclient,/usr,10.2.0.3' '--enable-dom=shared'
'--with-dom-xslt=/usr' '--with-dom-exslt=/usr' '--with-pgsql=shared' '--with-snmp=shared,/usr' '--enable-soap=shared' '--with-xsl=shared,/usr'
'--enable-xmlreader=shared' '--enable-xmlwriter=shared' '--enable-fastcgi' '--enable-pdo=shared' '--with-pdo-odbc=shared,unixODBC,/usr'
'--with-pdo-mysql=shared,/usr' '--with-pdo-pgsql=shared,/usr' '--with-pdo-sqlite=shared,/usr' '--with-sqlite=shared,/usr' '--enable-json=shared'
'--enable-zip=shared' '--with-readline' '--enable-dbase=shared' '--with-mcrypt=shared,/usr' '--with-mhash=shared,/usr' '--with-tidy=shared,/usr'
'--with-mssql=shared,/usr'

Even if an extension is activated during the build, it could not be installed and is not be listed below.

So, the only reliable information are reported by:

$ rpm -qa php\*
$ php --modules

So, what do you think: BUG or PEBKAC ?

A last reminder, don't forget to reload the httpd service after a new extension have been installed.