[FIXED] what is meant by extension and binary file of a library?

Issue

This is more of a general question but for reference, I read statements like: "Most of the shared hosting providers do not compile imagick extension with PHP, but imagick binaries will be available". I don't know what is meant by "imagick extension" and "imagick binaries"? To me, any non-txt file is a binary. Also, when we install a library like "imagick", are both these kinds of version installed? And what is the difference between them?

Solution

"Imagick extension" is the optional component of PHP that adds Imagick-related functions to the language.

"binaries" means programs that are compiled to machine code, as opposed to source code or scripts.

So they're saying that you won't be able to use the built-in Imagic functions in PHP, but you could execute the external programs using methods like shell_exec().

Answered By - Barmar

Answer Checked By - Timothy Miller (PHPFixing Admin)