Php-build, Compile and Install PHP
chh.github.com
chh.github.com
php-build currently solves mainly the problem of configuring PHP correctly, so the build is isolated to the prefix it's installed in (it also sets up PEAR or Pyrus correctly).
I hope that's tongue-in-cheek, because compilation is definitely non-trivial for any sophisticated piece of software with lots of external dependencies, especially if they're not available in the package manager that happens to come with the distro you're running at the moment (and it's even harder if you don't have sudo/root access on your box).
Without php-build I have to do this when I want to test, for example PHP 5.4.0RC1:
1. Find a tarball 2. Extract Tarball 3. Configure it 3a. If I already have a script to configure this version go to 4. 3b. Pick configure options (PHP has a sh*tload of them) 3c. See if it works 4. make && make install 5. install Pyrus 6. install XDebug 7. install PHPUnit
So with php-build (and php-build-plugin-phpunit): 1. php-build -i development 5.4.0rc1 ~/.phpenv/versions/5.4.0rc1 2. ? 3. Profit
php-build and...