Protobuf implementations

There are two implementations that are available for PHP:

1. C: the Protobuf PHP extension for better performance
2. PHP: the google/protobuf PHP package to get started easily

We recommend to use the C implementation but some users might need the PHP implementation instead because of security or technical constraint for examples.

The PHP implementation is automatically installed like any other googleapis/gax-php dependencies via Composer but it is used at runtime only if the C implementation is not installed and configured.

Use the C implementation

Install and configure the Protobuf PHP extension:

1. Run command sudo pecl install protobuf.
2. Add a line extension=protobuf.so to the php.ini file.

Use the PHP implementation

Make sure the C implementation is disabled and all the dependencies of the googleapis/gax-php library are installed:

1. Comment out the extension=protobuf.so line of the php.ini file if any.
2. Run command composer install in the directory that contains the composer.json file of the project being worked on (google-ads-php itself or any project that requires it as a dependence).

Determine which implementation is being used

Run php -i | grep protobuf:

• If not empty, you're using the C implementation
• Otherwise, you're not using the C implementation and the Google Ads API PHP library will rely on the PHP implementation (if installed correctly via Composer)