The file not found message comes from PHP, not the web server.
As far as the web server is concerned, it ran the PHP extension just fine, hence the '200' code in the logs.

Handlers in Zeus, e.g. for .php files, get called whether or not the file requested in the URL actually exists. This is a feature!
(see http://support.zeus.com/extra/zeustalk-archive/0676.html )

"it ran the PHP extension just fine"? How can you "run" something that doesn't exist? AFAIC, it's a bug.

Our servers are required to show custom 'corporate' error pages for the standard errors (404, 500 etc.). If the server can not detect a missing .php page, we can not fulfil that requirement.

Is there a mechanism for PHP to pass a "file not found" error code back to the server so that it can report 404 to the client's browser?  If so, that would seem to be the best approach.

http://support.zeus.com/extra/zeustalk-archive/0676.html says that this is a "feature" that allows a response to any URL. I can see that php.net uses that to good advantage,i.e. http://php.net/fopen can be used to locate & display the 'fopen' doc page. But surely there's a difference between http://php.net/fopen and http://php.net/fopen.php and the latter should return 404 instead of going straight into the function search mechanism?

John A. Grant
Geological Survey of Canada