Last modified: July 8, 2022

Overview

EasyApache 4 allows the use of multiple versions of PHP. This document explains how to locate and install a PHP version or a PHP extension.

Determine a user’s PHP version

You can determine a user’s PHP version with one of the following methods:

• Use WHM’s MultiPHP Manager interface (WHM » Home » Software » MultiPHP Manager). This interface allows you to see and change a user’s default PHP version. This is the easiest method to determine a user’s PHP version.

• Use cPanel’s MultiPHP Manager interface (cPanel » Home » Software » MultiPHP Manager).

• Navigate to the /home/username/public_html directory, where username represents the user’s username. Run the following command on the command line:

cat .htaccess

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# BEGIN cPanel-generated handler, do not edit
# Use php70 as default
 AddHandler application/x-httpd-php70 .php
# END cPanel-generated handler

• Use WHM API 1’s php_get_vhost_versions function.
• Use UAPI’s LangPHP::php_get_vhost_versions function.

Install a PHP version

EasyApache 4 supports PHP versions 5.4 through 5.6, PHP versions 7.0 through 7.4, and PHP 8.0 through 8.1.

The cPanel default profile includes PHP versions 7.3, 7.4, and 8.0.

You can install a PHP version on your system with one of the following methods:

• Use WHM’s EasyApache 4 interface (WHM » Home » Software » EasyApache 4) to select the version of PHP that you wish to load.

  Note:

  You can only install cPanel-provided PHP packages in the EasyApache 4 interface. You must use a package manager to install custom PHP packages.

• Use your package manager’s install command to install your desired PHP version. You can select from the following PHP packages:

  • ea-php54
  • ea-php55
  • ea-php56
  • ea-php70
  • ea-php71
  • ea-php72
  • ea-php73
  • ea-php74
  • ea-php80
  • ea-php81
  • Any custom PHP package name.

Vendor-provided PHP versions

In cPanel & WHM version 66 and later, EasyApache 4 allows you to use PHP versions that cPanel, L.L.C. does not provide. These PHP versions must be a Software Collection Library (SCL) package and cannot start with the ea- prefix that EasyApache 4 uses.

• You cannot use the EasyApache 4 interface (WHM » Home » Software » EasyApache 4) to install vendor-provided versions of PHP. You must use a package manager to install these packages on your system. For more information, read our Package Manager Basics documentation.
• After you install the packages, you can use WHM’s MultiPHP Manager interface (WHM » Home » Software » MultiPHP Manager) and WHM’s MultiPHP INI Editor interface (WHM » Home » Software » MultiPHP INI Editor) to make changes.

Potential issues

Some potential issues exist in vendor-provided versions of PHP.

Vendor-provided php.ini does not exist

In some cases, a vendor-provided PHP version’s php.ini file will not exist in the directory that cPanel & WHM requires. For example, RHEL’s PHP 5.6 .ini file exists in the /opt/rh/rh-php56/register.content/etc/opt/rh/rh-php56 directory, but cPanel & WHM expects it in the /opt/rh/rh-php56/root/etc directory. You must create a symlink in order for the MultiPHP system to read the php.ini file.

To create the symlink, use the following command, where php56 represents the PHP version that you wish to use:

ln -s /opt/rh/rh-php56/register.content/etc/opt/rh/rh-php56 /opt/rh/rh-php56/root/etc

If you installed the PHP version before you created the symlink, you must reinstall the PHP version with the following command, where php56 represents the PHP version that you wish to use:

yum reinstall rh-php56*

PHP CLI and PHP CGI binaries in different locations

Some PHP versions include the PHP CLI and PHP CLI binaries in different locations than cPanel & WHM’s implementation. In these cases, the PHP installation reverses the location of these binaries. If your PHP version does this, then the following issues may occur:

• The php-cgi binary path will not exist.
• The php-cli binary path will be incorrect.

To fix this issue, use the following commands, where prefix represents the vendor prefix and package represents the package name:

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mv /opt/prefix/package/root/usr/bin/php /opt/prefix/package/root/usr/bin/php-cgi
mv /opt/prefix/package/root/usr/bin/php-cli /opt/prefix/package/root/usr/bin/php

Find a PHP module or extension

You can find a PHP module or extension with one of the following methods:

• Use WHM’s EasyApache 4 interface (WHM » Home » Software » EasyApache 4).
• Run the rpm -qa | grep -i package command, where package represents part of the name of the package that you wish to install, to determine if the package is already installed.
• Run the yum list package command, where package represents part of the name of the package that you wish to install, to determine if the package is available.

Install a PHP module or extension

EasyApache 4’s packages for PHP modules and extensions use the ea-php##-php-module naming convention, where ## represents the PHP version number and module represents the name of the PHP module.

Install a PHP module or extension on your system with one of the following methods:

• Use WHM’s EasyApache 4 interface (WHM » Home » Software » EasyApache 4).
• Install the package on the command line with the following command:

yum install ea-php56-php-gd