When you start a session, if the user had no cookie, they get a new session id and they get a cookie. You can configure that cookie to last for n seconds via php.ini or session_cookie_set_params(). But, and this is a HUGE but for me, that cookie will expire in n seconds no matter what.

His method provides a way to extend the life of the cookies currently set for the domain by changing the time to live through a series of ini_get calls wrapped in a setcookie() call.

I've had problem with Zend Framework not being able to find its files, which is usually not good. The "workaround" of adding the realpath works, but would be overwritten when updating. Besides, going through the files just to add realpath locations is a hassle.

The php_value only works with mod_php, so good luck if you are running PHP using CGI/FastCGI. Actually, you'll have no luck, because it won't work using CGI.

Essentially, it uses the ihi_set function to define the correct include path. Check out the comments of the post for some other suggestions.