How to install PHP 7 on Debian Linux 8.7/7.x [jessie/wheezy]
I
wanted to use PHP 7 on Debian 8.x. How do I install and configure PHP 7 on Debian Linux 8.x server? How do I install PHP 7 on Debian Linux 7.x “wheezy” VPS server hosted in cloud?
PHP 7 is a dynamic scripting langauge for delivering applications. You can get 2x faster performance and 50% better memory consumption than PHP 5.6, allowing you to serve more concurrent users without adding any hardware. However, PHP 7 not included with Debian 8.x stable version. In this tutorial, you will learn about installing PHP 7 on Debian 8.7 server. Please note that Debian 9.0 “Stretch” will include PHP 7 by default.
Related: How to install PHP 7 on Ubuntu Linux 14.04 LTS
Steps to install PHP 7 on Debian 8.7
First, remove old PHP 5.6
Configure dotdeb is an extra repository for PHP 7
Install PHP 7
Reconfigure web server
Restart web server
To list your Debian version, enter:
$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux 8.7 (jessie)
Release: 8.7
Codename: jessie
Use the following syntax to save existing config files:
$ sudo tar zcvf /root/etc.backup.tar.gz /etc/
Step #1: Delete old php 5.6 (if installed)
First, list all installed old php 5.x packages, enter:
$ dpkg –list | grep php | awk /^ii/{ print $2}
Sample outputs:
Fig.01: Debian Linux list installed PHP packages on the system
To delete old php 5.6 packages, enter:
$ x= $(dpkg –list | grep php | awk /^ii/{ print $2} )
$ sudo apt-get –purge remove $x
Sample outputs:
Fig.02: Deleting old php 5.6 packages
Step #2: Configure dotdeb
Dotdeb is an extra repository providing up-to-date packages (such as PHP 7 and more) for your Debian servers. It supports both Debian 8.x “Jessie” and Debian 7.x “Wheezy”.
Configuration for Debian 8.x “Jessie”
Append the following two lines to /etc/apt/sources.list as root user::
$ sudo -s
# echo deb http://packages.dotdeb.org jessie all >> /etc/apt/sources.list
# echo deb-src http://packages.dotdeb.org jessie all >> /etc/apt/sources.list
Save and close the file. Here is my updated file:
$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list
Sample outputs:
Fig.03: Updated /etc/apt/sources.list for Debian 8.x “jessie”.
Configuration for Debian 7.x “Wheezy”
Append the following two lines to /etc/apt/sources.list as root user:
$ sudo -s
# echo deb http://packages.dotdeb.org wheezy all >> /etc/apt/sources.list
# echo deb-src http://packages.dotdeb.org wheezy all >> /etc/apt/sources.list
Save and close the file.
As of 15/Feb/2017 the above instructions for Debian 7.x “Wheezy” are no longer working. Please use following instructions to compile PHP 7 from the source code:
$ sudo apt-get install git
$ cd /tmp
$ git clone https://github.com/kasparsd/php-7-debian.git
$ cd php-7-debian/
$ ./build.sh
It will take some time to download and compile everything. At the end you should see something as follows:
Generating phar.php
Generating phar.phar
PEAR package PHP_Archive not installed: generated phar will require PHP s phar extension be enabled.
invertedregexiterator.inc
pharcommand.inc
directorytreeiterator.inc
clicommand.inc
directorygraphiterator.inc
phar.inc
Build complete.
Don t forget to run make test .
Installing shared extensions: /usr/local/php7/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20160303/
Installing PHP CLI binary: /usr/local/php7/bin/
Installing PHP CLI man page: /usr/local/php7/php/man/man1/
Installing PHP FPM binary: /usr/local/php7/sbin/
Installing PHP FPM config: /usr/local/php7/etc/
Installing PHP FPM man page: /usr/local/php7/php/man/man8/
Installing PHP FPM status page: /usr/local/php7/php/php/fpm/
Installing phpdbg binary: /usr/local/php7/bin/
Installing phpdbg man page: /usr/local/php7/php/man/man1/
Installing PHP CGI binary: /usr/local/php7/bin/
Installing PHP CGI man page: /usr/local/php7/php/man/man1/
Installing build environment: /usr/local/php7/lib/php/build/
Installing header files: /usr/local/php7/include/php/
Installing helper programs: /usr/local/php7/bin/
program: phpize
program: php-config
Installing man pages: /usr/local/php7/php/man/man1/
page: phpize.1
page: php-config.1
/tmp/php-7-debian/php-src/build/shtool install -c ext/phar/phar.phar /usr/local/php7/bin
ln -s -f phar.phar /usr/local/php7/bin/phar
Installing PDO headers: /usr/local/php7/include/php/ext/pdo/
To install PHP 7 on Debian 7.x:
$ sudo ./install.sh
Sample outputs:
update-rc.d: using dependency based boot sequencing
You can verify PHP version:
$ /usr/local/php7/bin/php –version
PHP 7.1.1 (cli) (built: Feb 15 2017 18:49:03) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) 1997-2017 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.1.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2017 Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v7.1.1, Copyright (c) 1999-2017, by Zend Technologies
All PHP configuration files are stored under /usr/local/php7:
/usr/local/php7/lib/php.ini
/usr/local/php7/etc/php-fpm.conf
/usr/local/php7/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf
/usr/local/php7/etc/conf.d/modules.ini
While the Debian init script is added to:
/etc/init.d/php7-fpm
See this page for more info about using PHP 7 on Debian 7.x. The rest of the following instructions are for Debian version 8.x only.
Step #3: Fetch and install the GnuPG key (“jessie” only)
Type the following commands
$ cd /tmp
$ wget https://www.dotdeb.org/dotdeb.gpg
$ sudo apt-key add dotdeb.gpg
$ rm dotdeb.gpg
Refresh apt database to include new packages:
$ sudo apt-get update
Sample outputs:
Get:1 http://security.debian.org jessie/updates InRelease [63.1 kB]
Ign http://ftp.us.debian.org stable InRelease
Get:2 http://packages.dotdeb.org jessie InRelease [9,840 B]
Hit http://ftp.debian.org jessie-updates InRelease
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org stable Release.gpg
Get:3 http://packages.dotdeb.org jessie/all Sources [30.0 kB]
Get:4 http://ftp.debian.org jessie-updates/main amd64 Packages/DiffIndex [5,932 B]
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org stable Release
Get:5 http://security.debian.org jessie/updates/main amd64 Packages [313 kB]
Hit http://ftp.debian.org jessie-updates/contrib amd64 Packages
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org stable/main amd64 Packages
Get:6 http://packages.dotdeb.org jessie/all amd64 Packages [111 kB]
Get:7 http://ftp.debian.org jessie-updates/non-free amd64 Packages/DiffIndex [736 B]
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org stable/contrib amd64 Packages
Get:8 http://security.debian.org jessie/updates/contrib amd64 Packages [2,506 B]
Hit http://ftp.debian.org jessie-updates/contrib Translation-en
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org stable/non-free amd64 Packages
Get:9 http://ftp.debian.org jessie-updates/main Translation-en/DiffIndex [2,704 B]
Get:10 http://security.debian.org jessie/updates/non-free amd64 Packages [14 B]
Get:11 http://security.debian.org jessie/updates/contrib Translation-en [1,211 B]
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org stable/contrib Translation-en
Get:12 http://ftp.debian.org jessie-updates/non-free Translation-en/DiffIndex [736 B]
Get:13 http://security.debian.org jessie/updates/main Translation-en [168 kB]
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org stable/main Translation-en
Get:14 http://security.debian.org jessie/updates/non-free Translation-en [14 B]
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org stable/non-free Translation-en
Ign http://packages.dotdeb.org jessie/all Translation-en_IN
Ign http://packages.dotdeb.org jessie/all Translation-en
Fetched 708 kB in 10s (69.8 kB/s)
Reading package lists… Done
Step #4: Install PHP 7 (“jessie” only)
You created a shell variable called $x in step #1. To install equivalent of php5 packages, enter:
$ y= $(sed s/php5/php7.0/g <<<$x)
$ echo Old PHP5 packages name: $x
Old PHP5 packages name: libapache2-mod-php5 php-pear php5 php5-cgi php5-cli php5-common php5-fpm php5-gd php5-json php5-mysql php5-readline
$ echo New PHP7 packages name: $y
New PHP7 packages name: libapache2-mod-php7.0 php-pear php7.0 php7.0-cgi php7.0-cli php7.0-common php7.0-fpm php7.0-gd php7.0-json php7.0-mysql php7.0-readline
$ sudo apt-get install $y
Sample outputs:
Fig.04: Installing PHP7 on my Debain 8.7 server
How do I search PHP7 packages (“jessie” only)?
$ apt-cache search php7.0-\*
$ apt-cache search php7.0-\* | grep -i mysql
Sample outputs from 1st command:
libapache2-mod-php7.0 – server-side, HTML-embedded scripting language (Apache 2 module)
libphp7.0-embed – HTML-embedded scripting language (Embedded SAPI library)
php-all-dev – package depending on all supported PHP development packages
php7.0 – server-side, HTML-embedded scripting language (metapackage)
php7.0-apcu – APC User Cache for PHP
php7.0-apcu-bc – APCu Backwards Compatibility Module
php7.0-bcmath – Bcmath module for PHP
php7.0-bz2 – bzip2 module for PHP
php7.0-cgi – server-side, HTML-embedded scripting language (CGI binary)
php7.0-cli – command-line interpreter for the PHP scripting language
php7.0-common – documentation, examples and common module for PHP
php7.0-curl – CURL module for PHP
php7.0-dba – DBA module for PHP
php7.0-dbg – Debug symbols for PHP7.0
php7.0-dev – Files for PHP7.0 module development
php7.0-enchant – Enchant module for PHP
php7.0-fpm – server-side, HTML-embedded scripting language (FPM-CGI binary)
php7.0-gd – GD module for PHP
php7.0-geoip – GeoIP module for PHP
php7.0-gmp – GMP module for PHP
php7.0-igbinary – igbinary serializer for PHP
php7.0-imagick – Provides a wrapper to the ImageMagick library
php7.0-imap – IMAP module for PHP
php7.0-interbase – Interbase module for PHP
php7.0-intl – Internationalisation module for PHP
php7.0-json – JSON module for PHP
php7.0-ldap – LDAP module for PHP
php7.0-mbstring – MBSTRING module for PHP
php7.0-mcrypt – libmcrypt module for PHP
php7.0-memcached – memcached extension module for PHP, uses libmemcached
php7.0-mongodb – MongoDB driver for PHP
php7.0-msgpack – MessagePack serializer for PHP
php7.0-mysql – MySQL module for PHP
php7.0-odbc – ODBC module for PHP
php7.0-opcache – Zend OpCache module for PHP
php7.0-pgsql – PostgreSQL module for PHP
php7.0-phpdbg – server-side, HTML-embedded scripting language (PHPDBG binary)
php7.0-pspell – pspell module for PHP
php7.0-readline – readline module for PHP
php7.0-recode – recode module for PHP
php7.0-redis – PHP extension for interfacing with Redis
php7.0-snmp – SNMP module for PHP
php7.0-soap – SOAP module for PHP
php7.0-sqlite3 – SQLite3 module for PHP
php7.0-ssh2 – Bindings for the libssh2 library
php7.0-sybase – Sybase module for PHP
php7.0-tidy – tidy module for PHP
php7.0-xdebug – Xdebug Module for PHP
php7.0-xml – DOM, SimpleXML, WDDX, XML, and XSL module for PHP
php7.0-xmlrpc – XMLRPC-EPI module for PHP
php7.0-xsl – XSL module for PHP (dummy)
php7.0-zip – Zip module for PHP
How do I install PHP7 packages individually?
Alternatively, you can just install needed PHP7 packages. In this example, install php7, php-fpm, php7-mysql and php7-gd:
$ sudo apt-get install php7.0 php7.0-fpm php7.0-gd php7.0-mysql
Step #5: Reconfigure web server and php 7 (“jessie” only)
Your php7 config files are located in /etc/php/7.0/ directory as follows:
/etc/php/7.0/apache2/ – PHP 7 with Apache 2
/etc/php/7.0/fpm/ – PHP 7 fpm for Nginx/Lighttpd/Apache2 and other server.
/etc/php/7.0/mods-available/ – All php ini config file for PHP modules such as gd/mysql/memecached and others.
You need to edit files and configure a web-server as per your setup.
Examples: Configure Lighttpd web-server to use PHP 7
Edit the /etc/lighttpd/conf-enabled/15-fastcgi-php.conf file, enter:
$ sudo vi /etc/lighttpd/conf-enabled/15-fastcgi-php.conf
Append/edit as follows (note updated /run/php/php7.0-fpm.sock path):
fastcgi.server += ( .php =>
((
bin-path => /usr/bin/php-cgi ,
socket => /run/php/php7.0-fpm.sock ,
max-procs => 1,
bin-environment => (
PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN => 4 ,
PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS => 10000
),
bin-copy-environment => (
PATH , SHELL , USER
),
broken-scriptfilename => enable
))
)
Save and close the file. Restart web-server as per step #6.
Examples: Configure Nginx web-server to use PHP 7
Edit the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default file, enter:
$ sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
First add the following at the top of file:
# Upstream to abstract backend connection(s) for PHP 7.
upstream myphpsevenbackend {
server unix:/run/php/php7.0-fpm.sock;
}
Next, locate the server block and update/edit/append as follows:
# Pass all .php files onto a php-fpm/php-fcgi server. #
index index.php;
location ~ [^/]\.php(/|$) {
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+?\.php)(/.*)$;
if (!-f $document_root$fastcgi_script_name) {
return 404;
}
# This is a robust solution for path info security issue and works with cgi.fix_pathinfo = 1 in php.ini (default) #
include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_index index.php;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_pass myphpsevenbackend;
}
Save and close the file. Restart web-server as per step #6.
Examples: Configure Apache 2 web-server to use PHP 7 (“jessie” only)
To enable PHP 7.0 FPM in Apache2, enter:
$ sudo a2enmod proxy_fcgi setenvif
Considering dependency proxy for proxy_fcgi:
Enabling module proxy.
Enabling module proxy_fcgi.
Module setenvif already enabled
To activate the new configuration, you need to run:
service apache2 restart
$ sudo a2enconf php7.0-fpm
Enabling conf php7.0-fpm.
To activate the new configuration, you need to run:
service apache2 reload
Restart web-server as per step #6.
Step #6: Restart web server
If you are using lighttpd web-server, enter:
$ sudo systemctl restart lighttpd.service
If you are using Nginx web-server, enter:
$ sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
If you are using Apache 2 web-server, enter:
$ sudo systemctl reload apache2.service
Test your setup
Create a file called test.php in your DocumentRoot (e.g. /var/www/html/test.php):
<?php
/* test.php */
phpinfo();
?>
Save and close the file. Fire a web-browser and type url:
http://your-domain/test.php
OR
http://server.ip.address.here/test.php
Sample outputs:
Fig.05: phpinfo() in action displaying info about PHP 7
How do I stop/start/restart php7.0-fpm (“jessie” only)?
The syntax is as follows
$ sudo systemctl stop php7.0-fpm.service
$ sudo systemctl start php7.0-fpm.service
$ sudo systemctl restart php7.0-fpm.service
$ sudo systemctl reload php7.0-fpm.service
A note about php7.0-fpm configuration file (“jessie” only)
/etc/php/7.0/fpm/php.ini – PHP 7 configuration file.
/etc/php/7.0/fpm/php-fpm.conf – PHP 7 FPM Configuration file.
/etc/php/7.0/fpm/pool.d/www.conf – Default pool for PHP 7 FPM. Here you can define user/group, FastCGI request path, process manager and children values, php error file, memory limit and much more.
Whenever you made changes to any one of the above file(s), reload/restart php7.0-fpm.service using the following syntax:
$ sudo systemctl reload php7.0-fpm.service
So there you have it, a PHP 7 enabled and configured on Debian Linux 7.x or 8.x server successfully.
