Okay, I know we're not upgrading _Apache_, but y'know what I mean - let's upgrade a Debian web server using PHP 7.3 to PHP 7.4! #0) Assumptions I'm assuming: * The server runs Debian 9 (Stretch) or Debian 10 (Buster) with Apache version 2.4.38* (though it should work for other versions) * Apache is using the PHP module, _not PHP-FPM_ * You have sudo and SSH access * You've made backups and any sites you're hosting can tolerate downtime 😉 \* You can get this info by running `/usr/sbin/apache2 -v` #1) Gather information ##Default PHP version Just as a sanity check, check to make sure the default PHP installation _is_ 7.3 by running: ``` php --version ``` You should get something which looks like this: ``` PHP 7.3.27-1~deb10u1 (cli) (built: Feb 13 2021 16:31:40) ( NTS ) Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group Zend Engine v3.3.27, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies with Zend OPcache v7.3.27-1~deb10u1, Copyright (c) 1999-2018, by Zend Technologies ``` ##Apache PHP version Create a PHP file named `phpinfo.php` with the following content in, and place it somewhere publicly accessible (e.g. `/var/www/html/phpinfo.php`) ``` ``` Navigate to this file (e.g. `http://{server IP}}/phpinfo.php`) and take note of the **PHP Version** in the header. ##Enabled PHP modules A common issue people face once they've successfully completed a PHP upgrade is missing modules - do you _know_ which PHP modules you have enabled at the moment? Didn't think so 😅 so let's get a list. We can view the currently enabled PHP modules, and also save a copy to `~/php_mods.txt`, by running: ``` php -m | tee ~/php_mods.txt ``` For example, here's _some_ of the enabled PHP modules I have on a test machine: ``` samt@testvm-1:~$ php -m [PHP Modules] bcmath bz2 calendar Core ctype curl date ftp gd gettext hash iconv imagick intl json sysvsem sysvshm tokenizer xml xmlreader xmlwriter xsl Zend OPcache zip zlib [Zend Modules] Zend OPcache ``` ##2) Updates Before upgrading PHP, you should ensure your web server is up to date. Let's update APT first. ``` sudo apt update ``` And then install any applicable updates. ``` sudo apt upgrade -y ``` You should then ideally reboot your web server if possible by running `sudo reboot` #3) Add PPA repository We'll start by ensuring a couple of required packages are installed. ``` sudo apt -y install lsb-release apt-transport-https ca-certificates ``` And then we can add Ondřej Surý's PPA repository GPG key. ``` sudo wget -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/php.gpg https://packages.sury.org/php/apt.gpg ``` And finally the repository itself. ``` echo "deb https://packages.sury.org/php/ $(lsb_release -sc) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/php.list ``` If you use Ondřej's repository to install PHP 7/8 on a server for your business, please consider donating to him! #4) Update package list Now that we have Surý's repository installed, let's update our package list. ``` sudo apt update ``` #5) Install PHP 7.4 We can now install PHP 7.4 like any other package. ``` sudo apt -y install php7.4 ``` We can then check to see if this has automatically updated the default PHP by running: ``` php --version ``` Which should return something similar to: ``` PHP 7.4.18 (cli) (built: May 3 2021 11:59:44) ( NTS ) Copyright (c) The PHP Group Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies with Zend OPcache v7.4.18, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies ``` #6) Install PHP modules You may find that some PHP modules (the ones you checked in step 1) are now missing - normally this presents as an error in the web application you might be hosting, such as WordPress. Some common extensions can be installed in one go by running: ``` sudo apt-get install php7.4-{bcmath,bz2,intl,gd,mbstring,mysql,zip,curl} ``` Refer to the file you created in step 1 (`~/php_mod.txt`) for any other missing ones. #7) Configure Apache Now that PHP 7.4 is installed, we need to load the relevant PHP module into Apache. First we'll remove the old module. ``` sudo a2dismod php7.3 ``` You'll be prompted to restart Apache, don't do that yet, and instead run: ``` sudo a2enmod php7.4 ``` Provided you don't get any error messages, you can now restart Apache with: ``` sudo service apache2 restart ``` Finally, reload the `phpinfo.php` file you created in step 1 and confirm the **PHP Version** has changed to 7.4. --- If you've made it this far, and everything is still working - well done! You've taken a really important step to ensure your web server is secure, and you might even notice a performance increase. --- _Originally posted on [my blog](https://words.samtarling.co.uk/2021/06/03/upgrading-apache-from-php-7-3-to-php-7-4)_

samtarling

Upgrading Apache from PHP 7.3 to PHP 7.4

Join Our Newsletter. No Spam, Only the good stuff.