Debugging PHP4 with dbg, gdb, and ddd

I want to create a debugging environment for PHP. I running Debian
Woody and installed PHP4 from Debian's packaging system.

I downloaded precompiled DBG from the webside and placed dbg.so in the
same directory as mysql.so, Since MySQL works under PHP, I'm assuming
I've got the right directory. I've updated php.ini per the DBG website.

phpinfo() reports:

1. --disable-debug was part of the ./configure command.
2. ZEND_DEBUG=disabled, but the report does indicate that dbg is part
of the Zend engine setup.
3. In the section on dbg, it reports dbg version 2.11.23, linked as a
shared library; profiler compiled,enabled; debugger.enabled=on; etc.

If I want to debug with dbg and gdb, do I have any options other than to
recompile PHP omitting the "--disable-debug" switch?

Once I do (or don't do) that, how does one hook gdb into dbg?

How do most PHP developers who don't own a commercial IDE debug their
programs?

Any help appreciated.