Month: February 2015

[FreeBSD]Upgrade PHP 5.5 to 5.6

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It is not easy to upgrade PHP 5.5 to 5.6 in FreeBSD. Without proper preparation, the upgrade process may drive you nut. Before you decide to get your hands wet, here are what I recommend you to do:

  1. Back up your files
  2. Test your website in a PHP 5.6 environment on a different server. It is because PHP 5.6 has introduced some backward incompatibilities. Some of the codes written in the prior versions may introduce run time error. See here for more information.
  3. Schedule a down time. Depending on your CPU speed / typing speed / trouble-shooting skill, it may take you an hour.

Background

I am assuming that you use PHP for web purposes (rather than command line / CLI only), and I am assuming that you are using PHP with Apache. Here are the ports you will need to touch:

  • Apache: /usr/ports/www/apache22 or /usr/ports/www/apache24
  • Apache-PHP: /usr/ports/www/mod_php56
  • PHP: /usr/ports/lang/php56
  • PHP Extensions: /usr/ports/lang/php56-extensions

1. Remove the old PHP and extensions

cd /usr/ports/lang/php55
sudo make deinstall clean


cd /usr/ports/lang/php55-extensions
sudo make deinstall clean

2. Install PHP 5.6

cd /usr/ports/lang/php56

#Don't forget enable ZTS if you have threaded Apache.
sudo make install clean

3. Install PHP 5.6 Extensions

cd /usr/ports/lang/php56-extensions
sudo make install clean

4. Test PHP and its extensions

php -v
php -m

Clean up the error by removing the duplicated entries in:
/usr/local/etc/php/extensions.ini

5. Rebuild the Apache-PHP Bridge

cd /usr/ports/www/mod_php55
sudo make deinstall clean

cd /usr/ports/www/mod_php56
#Don't forget enable ZTS if you have threaded Apache.
sudo make install clean

6. Restart Apache

sudo /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache restart

7. Test PHP using phpinfo

Create a code called test.php to display phpinfo. Verify that everything is okay.

< ?php
phpinfo();
?>

8. Reinstall Apache (optional)

If you experience any problem, try to reinstall the following ports:

Apache: /usr/ports/www/apache22 or /usr/ports/www/apache24
Apache-PHP: /usr/ports/www/mod_php56

That’s it! Enjoy the new PHP!

–Derrick

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