I recently had to recompile php on FC3 to accomodate oracle instant client libraries. I downloaded the source from php.net, configured it with the same options as shown by phpinfo() from the original FC# php package. I then added the oracle option. I ended up removing a few options (imap, etc) so it would work without error. I would rather have installed the php srpm and recompile from that so that the end result is very close to the original rpm. However, I do not know the steps involved and had trouble googling for them. Does anyone have instructions or a howto for making minor changes to files from a source rpm and recreating a new rpm.
Good intro to RPM-building: http://freshrpms.net/docs/fight/
If you install the PHP SRPM and look at the spec file, you'll see that it contains what amounts to a set of instructions for building the package. Just tweak the instructions as you need them and then rebuild.
Paul.