Call to undefined function oci_connect only from cli (works fine in html)

Question

Environment:
Server: Ubuntu Server 12.04 x64
Web Server: Apache 2
PHP: 5.3.10-1ubuntu3.8
Oracle: Instant Client 11.2

Problem:
I have a script that I am setting up as a cron job, but when it runs it produces

PHP Fatal error; Call to undefined function oci_connect() in /var/www/reports/inc/config.php on line 25

If I run this script or any other script using oci_connect or oci_pconnect through Apache, they work fine. I just migrated to a new machine and the script ran fine on the previous machine, but I cannot think of what I am missing.

Permissions on the script are the same as the config file and I have tried running as www-data, my user account, and root (all provide the same error).

Answer 1

When you use PHP from the shell or crontab, you're using the CLI version, not the webserver version, and they usually have separate php.ini files. Edit /etc/php5/cli/php.ini and enable the OCI extension.

Answer 2

You have to specifie the user custom profile file (.bash_profile or .profile) before launching the script

0 7 * * * . $HOME/.bash_profile; php -e -c /etc/php.ini /var/www/html/script_avec_oci.php