Zend Framework requires no special installation steps. Simply download
the framework, extract it to the folder you would like to keep it in,
and add the library directory to your PHP include_path
.
Zend Framework 2 requires PHP 5.3.3 or later.
If you would like to preview enhancements or bug fixes that have not yet been released, you can obtain the current development version of Zend Framework using one of the following methods:
-
Using a Git client. Zend Framework is open source software, and the Git repository used for its development is publicly available. Consider using Git to get Zend Framework if you already use Git for your application development, want to contribute back to the framework, or need to upgrade your framework version very often.
-
Checking out a working copy is necessary if you would like to directly contribute to Zend Framework; a working copy can be updated any time using git pull.
To clone the git repository, use the following URL:
git://git.zendframework.com/zf.git
For more information about Git, please see the official website:
Once you have a copy of Zend Framework available, your application will
need to access the framework classes. Though there are several ways to
achieve this, your PHP include_path
needs to contain the path to the
Zend Framework classes under the /library
directory in this
distribution. You can find out more about the PHP include_path
configuration directive here:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.include-path
Instructions on how to change PHP configuration directives can be found here:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/configuration.changes.php
A great place to get up-to-speed quickly is the Zend Framework QuickStart:
http://framework.zend.com/manual/2.0/en/user-guide/overview.html
The QuickStart covers some of the most commonly used components of ZF. Since Zend Framework is designed with a use-at-will architecture and components are loosely coupled, you can select and use only those components that are needed for your project.