Even though I've set
safe_mode = Off
in php.ini, restarted apache, and even rebooted the system...
when I try to execute set_time_limit(0) in my application, it throws the warning that set_time_limit cannot be st in safe mode.
This has been erratic behavior; earlier when I set safe_mode to Off, the system worked fine. But later on, seemingly autonomously, safe_mode has returned, and my application breaks due to the time_limit.
Is there anything I can check? I fear that my system has been compromised.
PHP settings can appear in a number of different locations - it's likely that the setting in php.ini is being overridden by a setting elsewhere.
You might want to check:
Given that phpinfo is talking about a "Local setting" that sounds a little bit like a .htaccess setting to me but it could be in another part of Apache's config.
It's not usual for PHP to be placed in safe mode on a 'default install', indeed it will be deprecated in future PHP versions if it isn't already. It's strange then that you have safe mode enabled without knowing it - perhaps some other app enabled it as part of its install script or maybe you copy-pasted some example configuration from somewhere? I dunno.