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gmodarelli/Multiple PHP under Ubuntu 13.04.md

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How to setup Ubuntu 13.04 to work with multiple PHP version at the same time
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Multiple PHP under Ubuntu 13.04.md

Multiple PHP version under Ubuntu 13.04

Update your machine

apt-get update
apt-get ugrade

Install the lamp server (Apache MySQL PHP)

apt-get install lamp-server^

The installation will ask you to choose a password for the mysql root user. Once finished, open a tab in your browser to http://localhost

You should see a page with the heading "It Works!"

Install php-farm

cd /opt
git clone git://git.code.sf.net/p/phpfarm/code phpfarm

Compile all the PHP version you need, eg

cd /opt/phpfarm/src
./compile 5.5.0

If the compilation fails, just install the libraries that cause the interruption

To verify the installation

cd /opt/phpfarm/src/inst/bin
./php-5.5.0 --version

Install FastCGI

apt-get install libapache2-mod-fastcgi apache2-mpm-worker apache2-suexec a2enmod actions fastcgi suexec

Edit the /etc/apache2/apache2.conf, add these lines before the includes

FastCgiServer /var/www/cgi-bin/php-cgi-5.5.0
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin-php/ /var/www/cgi-bin/

Now create the file /var/www/cgi-bin/php-cgi-5.5.0, with this content

#!/bin/sh
PHPRC="/etc/php5/cgi/5.5.0/"
export PHPRC

PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=3
export PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN

PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=5000
export PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS

exec /opt/phpfarm/inst/bin/php-cgi-5.5.0

Make the file executable

chmod +x /var/www/cgi-bin/php-cgi-5.5.0

Configure a VirtualHost to use the php version we just configured eg: /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.conf

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName example.dev
  DocumentRoot /var/www/example/
  <Directory "/var/www/example">
    AddHandler php-cgi .php
    Action php-cgi /cgi-bin-php/php-cgi-5.5.0
    <FilesMatch "\.php$">
      SetHandler php-cgi
    </FilesMatch>
  </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Enable the site

a2ensite example.conf

Add the server to /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 example.dev

Restart apache

service apache2 restart

If you don't get any error you will find a working installation of PHP5.5.0 at http://example.dev :)

@0v3rth3d4wn
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0v3rth3d4wn commented May 19, 2014

Thanks for this tutorial. It really works. I just needed to enable the Apache2 actions module

sudo a2enmod actions

P.S. Is there a way to keep 2 PHP versions enabled for separate folders? I can compile 2 versions and configure 2 different virtualhosts but how can I add 2 servers in /etc/apache2/apache2.conf?

@helderco
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helderco commented Jun 18, 2014

@0v3rth3d4wn You can. Take a look at php-fpm.

@aggarwallalit
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aggarwallalit commented Feb 8, 2016

I have created a directory abc in /var/www/ path and created a new file info.php to print phpinfo(). But when I hit URL http://abc.dev/info.php . It gives "The requested URL /cgi-bin/php-cgi-5.5.9/info.php was not found on this server" error. Can anybody help to resolve this issue?

@joejwright
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joejwright commented Mar 31, 2016

@aggarwallalit I ran into the same issue. You have to add the line:

FastCgiServer /var/www/cgi-bin/php-cgi-5.5.9

To your apache2.conf file. You can add a line for each PHP version you want to use.

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