First, eZ publish does not support PHP 5 and we do not recommend using Apache 2. When you compile PHP, do it as a static module. This has some performance gain over compiling PHP as a shared module. eZ publish doesnt require any special features or modules, but remember to compile with --with-mbstring as this will make character conversion alot faster.
How to compile php as a static module: http://cvs.php.net/annotate.php/php-src/INSTALL?rev=1.25.4.1#97
I've succesfully managed to install Apache 1.3 with PHP (with mbstring) as a static module. After that I've installed IONCube's phpaccelerator and checked that it worked.
I've set the max_exection_time to 0 (infinite) but unfortunately eZ Publish is very, very, terribly slow...
Did I forget anything? Do you have some points for me to consider?
First, what is the hardware specs on your machine and which version of eZ publish do you use? Try turning on debug by setting DebugOutput=enabled in site.ini. Have a look at the bottom of the page to find out which part that is so slow.