I have been mucking around for days, trying to find the right combination that lets me debug with breakpoints and variable viewing, in Eclipse, without crashing Apache.

• PHP 5.3? PHP 5.2?
• Eclipse Helios? Eclipse Galileo? One or the other with certain versions of xdebug or php? Or do I really need to use NetBeans or something else?
• Is my 64 bit OS the problem? Do need specific 64bit versions of PHP, Eclipse or Xdebug to work on Windows 7 64?
• Any special xdebug config options and tricks that I need in php.ini? Like turning off xdebug.profiler_enable or not using quotes around my zend_extension path to the xdebug dll?
• A Vhosts issue?
• Scrap the whole thing and go back to Win XP or Ubuntu?

Here's what I've already been reading:

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4509245/so-eclipse-and-xdebug-walk-into-a-bar-and-then-my-apache-server-dies/4602473
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/206788/why-does-xdebug-crash-apache-on-every-xampp-install-ive-tried
• http://bugs.xdebug.org/view.php?id=459
• https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=312951#c8
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2799936/xdebug-for-php-5-2-on-windows-7-64bit
• and so and so on... SO, xdebug bug tracker, eclipse bugzilla, etc, etc

Basically what would be great is if folks could post their working (i.e. debugging with breakpoints and local variable viewing in Eclipse) Win7 64bit configurations, including:

• PHP version (5.3.1, 5.2.11, etc)
• Xdebug dll (2.1.0-5.3-vc6, etc)
• Xdebug php.ini config (zend_extension = "C:\xampp\php\ext\php_xdebug.dll", etc)
• Apache version (2.2.14, etc)
• Eclipse version
• Anything else important? The "secret ingredient"?

Thanks! I miss my debugger since I got a new laptop with Win 7! Sadly it looks like some of the drivers (switchable graphics, multi-touch pad, etc) on my lappy don't work right with Ubuntu yet, so I feel a bit trapped on Win :( I know I will figure something out eventually, but I've been at this trial-and-error game a while and am seeking some guidance.

(Originally posted on StackOverflow here, but moved to SuperUser:)
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4628215/what-php-xdebug-and-eclipse-configurations-work-on-windows-7-64-bit