How does the session.auto_start setting in PHP affect the functionality of sessions on a server?

When the session.auto_start setting in PHP is enabled, it automatically starts a session on every page load without needing to explicitly call session_start(). This can lead to unexpected behavior or conflicts if session variables are not properly managed or if sessions are started multiple times. To solve this issue, it is recommended to disable session.auto_start and manually start the session when needed using session_start().

// Disable session.auto_start
ini_set('session.auto_start', 0);

// Manually start the session when needed
session_start();

// Code that uses session variables can now be safely executed