is it possible to make open_basedir setable to ~ so the base of the script can be the home directory of the owner of the script.
I have set it to . so one users cant just do a fopen on another users scripts
This has the side effect that using mutiple directories for a set of scripts is very tricky as the scripts cant include files from directories next to or below them selves. 

I havent fully tested this but it also seems that the restrictions that mean you cant create a file in safe mode with open_basedir set seem to mean that the tmp_uploads arent possible Is it possible to make tmp_uploaddir  also setable to ~/tmp

or allow tmp_upload to over ride the create restrictions to allow for dynamic tempoary file names.

It seems to me that many people are relying on the security of their phpscripts when another user on the system can simply read their files useing the common "nobody" permissions

Thanks Greg