What steps can be taken to prevent Apache crashes due to errors in PHP code when using external libraries like GnuPG?

To prevent Apache crashes due to errors in PHP code when using external libraries like GnuPG, it is important to properly handle exceptions and errors that may occur during the execution of the code. This can be done by using try-catch blocks to catch any exceptions thrown by the external library and handle them gracefully, preventing them from crashing the Apache server.

try {
    // Code using GnuPG library
} catch (Exception $e) {
    // Handle the exception
    error_log("An error occurred: " . $e->getMessage());
}