This is the code:

$doc = xmldocfile( "xml-config.xml" );
$ctx = xpath_new_context($doc); 
$xpath = xpath_eval($ctx,"/xml-config/website[@id='oll']/output/@html-production-dir"); 
$nodeset = $xpath->nodeset;
$production_dir = $nodeset[0]->content;

If I run from a DOS box, it runs just fine, giving the correct result. However, when I run it behind the Xitami web server, php.exe crashes in the xpath_eval call.

Some important info:

My php.ini has these entries:
extension_dir = c:/php/extensions
extension=php_domxml.dll

Note that c:\php;c:\php\dlls and c:\php\extensions are in the PATH, just in case

libxml2.dll is in the path and can be found no problem, I can run xsltproc.exe just fine (it uses libxml2.dll). I can also passthru 'xsltproc.exe' from PHP, it runs fine.

If I remove extension_dir = c:/php/extensions from the ini, just to test,  I can get both DOS and Xitami php to complain that it cannot load php_domxml.dll, which is the expected behavior ("Unable to load dynamic library..."). I put the entry back, the warning Dialog goes away for DOS and for Xitami, but the crash returns for Xitami.

My Conclusions:
  - php behind Xitami is finding php_domxml.dll just fine, because when it does not I get the warning Dialog and no crash
  - libxml2.dll is in the path and can be found by programs including php under DOS. It can also be found from programs launched from php behind Xitami (passthru 'xsltproc.exe').

   Any chance the DLL linking is failing for some bizarre reason only when PHP runs behind Xitami ?