[users@httpd] problem with apache or php?

[kjc <ckevinj@xxxxxxxxx>]

I've posted my question already the PHP internals group because I thought this problem was with PHP.
But I haven't had any luck so far, still digging, still searching. A
co-worker wonders if this problem isn't Apache though, so I'm cross
posting this issue here.

I'm running Solaris 10. My web servers are LDAP clients, meaning I use
LDAP directory to hold user information instead of NIS. These systems
are configured to use standard pam_unix configuration and the
ldapclient is configured with a proxy account.
I have successfully compiled Apache, PHP, and the other necessary dependencies into 64bit mode.
When I start up Apache sans-PHP the httpd webuser process runs and is
assigned every (total 10) gid from the directory just fine.
When the PHP module is loaded he only see two-- the webuser's primary
group the test group I created in /etc/group. It is like it doesn't
call the getent group routine or whatever.

I've been playing with and learning dtrace, but I'm still not proficient enough to get this pinpointed.

For instance I've seen with opensnoop and dtruss that the the httpd
process w/out PHP calls /etc/nsswitch.conf whereas the process w/ PHP
calls /etc/group directly. I've seen that the process w/out PHP
retreives the output from the Directory and counts ten groups.
I've seen that the process w/PHP calls /usr/lib/nss_files.so.1 but I don't know why.

Is there something I can do with PHP to make it NOT do that? Or is it an Apache problem? Or a system config problem?
Why does Apache let PHP change its own process information like that?

-- 
-Kevin