php.ini configuration changes in shared hosting account

Question

Am trying to override the default php.ini configuration using .htaccess / ini_set, but the configurations are not getting reflected while executing the script. Here the PHP is installed as fastcgi and am in a shared hosting account. Is there any way to change the php.ini settings or I need to upgrade my account to virtual dedicated server. Please help in this regard.

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Thanks for your answers, to be more elaborate, i want to change the max_execution_time of my php script as am handling with a huge log file need to be parsed. This script exceeds the default configuration in php.in (i.e) 30 secs. As my site is in the shared hosting, am not able to configure it in php.ini, they given a (php.ini)file in the document root ans ask us to configure the values but that is not reflecting.I tried the dynamic way using ini_set, same result.

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The include path is .:/usr/local/php5/lib/php

Answer 1

I doubt you will be able to modify everything in the php.ini file on a shared host. The host could've turned the whole ini_set() function off for all I know! A virtual dedicated server might be what you're looking for (I have never encountered this stuff, as I run my own servers).

Just wondering, what are you trying to set?