Apache2 PHP - How to extend session timeout

Question

I have an Apache2 web server with PHP running on my Raspberry Pi and I'm using sessions for storing the user's ID when they log in. I noticed that when the browser closes, the session is destroyed. How do I make the session last longer (ideally forever until they log out)?

Answer 1

You can use a special setting of session_start() provided by PHP 7.0 ... with the following setting the session expires after 1 day ( 86400 seconds)... you can adjust this value as you want... even if you close the browser the session persists, to terminate your session you'll have to invoke session_destroy() ...

if (session_status() == PHP_SESSION_NONE) {
  if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '7.0.0') >= 0) {
    session_start(['cookie_lifetime' => 86400,]);
  } else {
    session_start();
  }
}

I hope this helps.