How to Install PHP 7 x in Rocky Linux 8

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Installing the EPEL and Remi Repository

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For this we use the PHP 7.x packaged by Remi, a third-party repository which offers multiple versions of PHP 7.x and 8.x

First, lets install the EPEL repository,

rpm -Uvh https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm

Next, install the Remi repository with the following command,

yum install -y https://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-8.rpm

List the available PHP module stream

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To check/list the available PHP versions, use the following command,

yum module list php

Output:

[root@server ~]# yum module list php
Last metadata expiration check: 2:11:11 ago on Wed 12 May 2021 11:54:38 AM EDT.
Rocky Linux 8 - AppStream
Name     Stream         Profiles                       Summary
php      7.2 [d][e]     common [d], devel, minimal     PHP scripting language
php      7.3            common [d], devel, minimal     PHP scripting language
php      7.4            common [d], devel, minimal     PHP scripting language

Remi's Modular repository for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64
Name     Stream         Profiles                       Summary
php      remi-7.2       common [d], devel, minimal     PHP scripting language
php      remi-7.3       common [d], devel, minimal     PHP scripting language
php      remi-7.4       common [d], devel, minimal     PHP scripting language
php      remi-8.0       common [d], devel, minimal     PHP scripting language

Hint: [d]efault, [e]nabled, [x]disabled, [i]nstalled

Installing PHP 7.x

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First, lets disable the old version before enabling the new one,

dnf module reset php

Output:

[root@server ~]# dnf module reset php
Last metadata expiration check: 2:11:49 ago on Wed 12 May 2021 11:54:38 AM EDT.
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
 Package           Architecture     Version             Repository         Size
================================================================================
Resetting modules:
 php

Transaction Summary
================================================================================

Is this ok [y/N]: y
Complete!

Below are the commands to install a specific version of PHP to your requirements,

dnf module install php:remi-7.2

dnf module install php:remi-7.3

dnf module install php:remi-7.4

dnf module install php:remi-8.0

In our case, we will install PHP 7.4 via the remi repository,

dnf module install php:remi-7.4

Output:

[root@server ~]# dnf module install php:remi-7.4
Last metadata expiration check: 2:12:20 ago on Wed 12 May 2021 11:54:38 AM EDT.
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
 Package            Arch        Version                 Repository         Size
================================================================================
Upgrading:
 php                x86_64      7.4.19-1.el8.remi       remi-modular      3.0 M
 php-cli            x86_64      7.4.19-1.el8.remi       remi-modular      4.6 M
 php-common         x86_64      7.4.19-1.el8.remi       remi-modular      1.2 M
 php-fpm            x86_64      7.4.19-1.el8.remi       remi-modular      1.6 M
 php-gd             x86_64      7.4.19-1.el8.remi       remi-modular       93 k
 php-json           x86_64      7.4.19-1.el8.remi       remi-modular       77 k

You can update your system and installed packages at any time by running the following command,

dnf update

Check Installed PHP Version

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Now that we have installed PHP 7.4 via the remi repository, we can verify the version installed by running the php -v command,

php -v

Output:

[root@server ~]# php -v
PHP 7.4.19 (cli) (built: May  4 2021 11:06:37) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v7.4.19, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

Done!