The trailing slash issue was fixed with usn-1042-2 (http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-1042-2); my apologies for messing up the changelog bug reference.
Andrea, I've reproduced the behavior you're seeing on all Ubuntu releases, as well as debian's 5.3.3-7 package in unstable. I've discussed it briefly with upstream, and this appears to be an intended behavior change. The upstream bug about it is http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=53597 . ** Bug watch added: bugs.php.net/ #53597 http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=53597 ** Bug watch added: bugs.php.net/ #53597 http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=53597 ** Changed in: php Remote watch: Debian Bug tracker #605391 => bugs.php.net/ #53597 -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Server Team, which is subscribed to php5 in ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/701765 Title: open_basedir breaks by restricting paths to files that should be allowed; Unknown: Failed opening required '/usr/share/phpmyadmin/index.php' (include_path='.') in Unknown on line 0 -- Ubuntu-server-bugs mailing list Ubuntu-server-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-server-bugs