Thank you for taking the time to write to us, but this is not
a bug. Please double-check the documentation available at
http://www.php.net/manual/ and the instructions on how to report
a bug at http://bugs.php.net/how-to-report.php

The function is documented to return FALSE on error. There is no problem 
here...

"an empty array if no file matched" is what i see in the manual.
but this returns error, and not an empty array()

glob("/path/allowd/in/open_basedir/nonexitentfile.*"); 

I can understand why a system glob call returning no files, and a call returning only nonallowed files has to be treated the same.

But im to dumb to see the logic in treating both as errors instead of "no files matched", especially because that breaks existing code.
And treating it as "no files matched" doesnt break anything.
Please enlighten me if im wrong, and ill put on my pointy hat and sit in the corner for the rest of the day.

But now i have link i can give the users telling me my servers doesn't work right. So i guess i can live with that.

It seems to me, that "glob" is returning false, even though the path i try to glob 
is valid compared to the "open_basdir" settings. Could you please have a further 
look at this issue?

(tried this with php 5.3.6 and php 5.3.8, btw.)

I agree, there is no error here but a wrong test. I will fix it soonish, checking 
the logic in there.

Please try using this patch (against 5.4 but should work against 5.3). I will 
remove the warning too to make it works like the other call (was just to ease the 
test).

Hi Pierre!

Please merge your patch asap to php.
It works as expected and will fix the following inconsistency:
$ php -dopen_basedir=/ -r 'var_dump(glob("/does/not/exist"));'
bool(false)
$ php -r 'var_dump(glob("/does/not/exist"));'
array(0) {
}

Something to consider is updating the docs to mention returning false if open_basedir restriction is in effect.

There are some cases with the platform difference

windows

x64\Debug_TS\php -n -d open_basedir=C:\php-sdk\phpmaster\vc11\x64\php-src -r 
"var_dump(glob('C:\php-sdk\phpmaster\vc11\x64\php-src\*.none'));"
bool(false)

x64\Debug_TS\php -n -r "var_dump(glob('C:\php-sdk\phpmaster\vc11\x64\php-src\*.none'));"
array(0) {
}

linux

 sapi/cli/php -n -d open_basedir=/home/anatol/dws/src/php-master-ts -r 
'var_dump(glob("/home/anatol/dws/src/php-master-ts/*.none"));'
array(0) {
}

sapi/cli/php -n -r 'var_dump(glob("/home/anatol/dws/src/php-master-ts/*.none"));'
array(0) {
}


The cause of this platform difference is that here 
http://lxr.php.net/xref/PHP_TRUNK/ext/standard/dir.c#495 php_check_open_basedir_ex() 
subsequently calls virtual_file_ex() 
http://lxr.php.net/xref/PHP_TRUNK/TSRM/tsrm_virtual_cwd.c#1241 and if the pattern 
contains '*' or '?', php_check_open_basedir_ex() will return -1 on windows.

I've discovered while testing this PR https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/398 which had 
the same issue.

Here's a testcase i wrote to ensure it does right across platforms

--TEST--
Test glob() function: ensure no platform difference
--FILE--
<?php
$path = dirname(__FILE__);

ini_set('open_basedir', NULL);
var_dump(glob("$path/*.none"));

ini_set('open_basedir', $path);
var_dump(glob("$path/*.none"));

?>
==DONE==
--EXPECT--
array(0) {
}
array(0) {
}
==DONE==

I can see the patch commited at 2013-01-08 

http://git.php.net/?p=php-src.git;a=history;f=ext/standard/dir.c;hb=HEAD

However the 5.5 branch doesn't have it, it seems to be created before 2013-01-08

http://git.php.net/?p=php-src.git;a=history;f=ext/standard/dir.c;hb=refs/heads/PHP-5.5

This way it works in PHP <= 5.5 is returning false or array() on a nonexistent path depending on whether 
basedir was set or not. In master where the patch is present it returns an empty array disregarding 
openbasedir setting on linux, but still has difference on windows when the path contains '*' or '?'.

I've pushed the test splitted in 5.4/5.5 indicating the 'is state'

http://git.php.net/?p=php-
src.git;a=blob_plain;f=ext/standard/tests/file/glob_variation3.phpt;hb=refs/heads/PHP-5.4

and into master:

http://git.php.net/?p=php-
src.git;a=blob_plain;f=ext/standard/tests/file/glob_variation3.phpt;hb=refs/heads/master

On master it'll fail on windows because of the platform difference in virtual_file_ex() mentioned above.

fixed with f4df40108be641a4167f6f6c1c3989958dda438a