What PHP, Xdebug and Eclipse configurations work on Windows 7 64 bit?

Question

I have been mucking around for days, trying to find the right combination that lets me debug with breakpoints and variable viewing, in Eclipse, without crashing Apache.

• PHP 5.3? PHP 5.2?
• Eclipse Helios? Eclipse Galileo? One or the other with certain versions of xdebug or php? Or do I need to use NetBeans or something else?
• Is my 64 bit OS the problem? Do need specific 64bit versions of PHP, Eclipse or Xdebug to work on Windows 7 64?
• Any special xdebug config options and tricks that I need in php.ini? Like turning off xdebug.profiler_enable or not using quotes around my zend_extension path to the xdebug dll?
• A Vhosts issue?
• Scrap the whole thing and go back to Win XP or Ubuntu?

Here's what I've already been reading:

• So eclipse and xdebug walk into a bar, and then my apache server dies
• Why does xdebug crash apache on every XAMPP install I've tried?
• http://bugs.xdebug.org/view.php?id=459
• https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=312951#c8
• xdebug for PHP 5.2 on Windows 7 64bit
• and so and so on... SO, xdebug bug tracker, eclipse bugzilla, etc, etc

Basically what would be great is if folks could post their working (i.e. debugging with breakpoints and local variable viewing in Eclipse) Win7 64bit configurations, including:

• PHP version (5.3.1, 5.2.11, etc)
• Xdebug dll (2.1.0-5.3-vc6, etc)
• Xdebug php.ini config (zend_extension = "C:\xampp\php\ext\php_xdebug.dll", etc)
• Apache version (2.2.14, etc)
• Anything else important? The "secret ingredient"?

Thanks! I miss my debugger since I got a new laptop with Win 7 :(

Note: Moved to SuperUser
https://superuser.com/questions/231818/what-php-xdebug-and-eclipse-configurations-work-on-windows-7-64-bit

Answer 1

So, here is what I am using now on my Windows 7 64 laptop, which seems to be working:

1. Eclipse Helios Service Release 2 (3.6.2)
2. Apache 2.2.17
3. PHP 5.3.4
4. XDebug 2.1.0-5.3 (VC9 I think)

I used the WAMP Server 2.1d 64bit installer. WAMP is waaaay better than XAMPP, like, I can't even believe. My life is good again.

I ran in to a couple of problems still, namely the OpenSSL files included with Apache didn't work. But I just downloaded the latest files from the OpenSLL and overwrote the files WAMP came with, and now it works great.

I also had to enable some of the bonus features on PHPMyAdmin I like, and had to add the INI parameter to the mySql service to use the MySql Administrtaor program, but overall it worked slick. Very stable now.

Anyway, I can set breakpoints and inspect local variables now! And still use my favorite Eclipse IDE! Thanks for everyone's suggestions, please feel free to continue to post working configurations to help everyone else out.