diff --git a/modules/services/web-servers/apache-httpd/default.nix b/modules/services/web-servers/apache-httpd/default.nix
index 91fce4f8dff..fd03b8b6533 100644
--- a/modules/services/web-servers/apache-httpd/default.nix
+++ b/modules/services/web-servers/apache-httpd/default.nix
@@ -464,6 +464,37 @@ in
         '';
       };
 
+      phpIni = mkOption {
+        default = ''
+           ; Needed for PHP's mail() function.
+           sendmail_path = sendmail -t -i
+         '';
+
+        /*
+         phpIni =  pkgs.phpIniBuilder.override {
+            appendLines = ''
+             sendmail_path = sendmail -t -i
+
+             zend_extension="${pkgs.phpXdebug}/lib/xdebug.so"
+             zend_extension_ts="${pkgs.phpXdebug}/lib/xdebug.so"
+             zend_extension_debug="${pkgs.phpXdebug}/lib/xdebug.so"
+             xdebug.remote_enable=true
+             xdebug.remote_host=127.0.0.1
+             xdebug.remote_port=9000
+             xdebug.remote_handler=dbgp
+             xdebug.profiler_enable=0
+             xdebug.profiler_output_dir="/tmp/xdebug"
+             xdebug.remote_mode=req
+            '';
+          };
+
+        */
+        description = ''
+          You can override php default settings by using a customized php.ini file.
+          Have a look at teh comment above this description to see how to enable Xdebug
+        '';
+      };
+
     }
 
     # Include the options shared between the main server and virtual hosts.
@@ -520,11 +551,8 @@ in
                 optional config.networking.defaultMailServer.directDelivery "${pkgs.ssmtp}/sbin"
              ++ (concatMap (svc: svc.extraServerPath) allSubservices) );
 
-           PHPRC = pkgs.writeText "php.ini"
-             ''
-               ; Needed for PHP's mail() function.
-               sendmail_path = sendmail -t -i
-             '';
+           # only php is using PHPRC. When PHP isn't enabled it doesn't hurt much
+           PHPRC = mainCfg.phpIni;
            
           } // (listToAttrs (concatMap (svc: svc.globalEnvVars) allSubservices));