Install PHP 7.4 on Ubuntu 18.04

Install PHP 7.4 on Ubuntu 18.04. This guide let you learn how install the latest PHP version 7.4 on your Ubuntu system or your Ubuntu server on any VPS or any Cloud or any Dedicated hosting and configure it with Apache and Nginx.

The latest PHP 7.4 version is officially released on November 28th, 2019. It comes with a number of new features and a few incompatibilities that you should be aware of before upgrading from the previous version.

This installation is tested on Google Cloud Platform with a Compute Compute Engine VM Instance. This set up will work on all Linux servers.

Prerequisites

1. A Ubuntu server set up with sudo privileges.
2. Completed the initial Ubuntu server setup.

If you are using Google Cloud Platform to install PHP you need the following steps to be done.

1. A running Compute Engine, see the Setting up Compute Engine Instance with Ubuntu 18.04.

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Getting Started

Make sure your Ubuntu server is having the latest packages by running the following command.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

This will update the package index and update the installed packages to the latest version.

Add PPA for PHP 7.4

Add the ondrej/php which has PHP 7.4 package and other required PHP extensions.

sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
sudo apt update

Once you have added the PPA you can install PHP 7.4.

Install PHP 7.4 for Apache

Execute the following command to install PHP 7.4

sudo apt install php7.4

After the installation has completed, you can confirm the installation using the following command

php -v

Install PHP 7.4 FPM for Nginx

For Nginx you need to install FPM, execute the following command to install PHP 7.4 FPM

sudo apt install php7.4-fpm

After the installation has completed, confirm that PHP 7.4 FPM has installed correctly with this command

php-fpm7.4 -v

Install PHP 7.4 Extensions

Installing PHP extensions are simple with the following syntax.

sudo apt install php7.4-extension_name

Now, install some commonly used php-extensions with the following command.

sudo apt install php7.4-common php7.4-mysql php7.4-xml php7.4-xmlrpc php7.4-curl php7.4-gd php7.4-imagick php7.4-cli php7.4-dev php7.4-imap php7.4-mbstring php7.4-opcache php7.4-soap php7.4-zip php7.4-intl -y

Configure PHP 7.4

Now we configure PHP for Web Applications by changing some values in php.ini file.

For PHP 7.4 with Apache the php.ini location will be in following directory.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini

For PHP 7.4 FPM with Nginx the php.ini location will be in following directory.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.4/fpm/php.ini

Hit F6 for search inside the editor and update the following values for better performance.

upload_max_filesize = 32M 
post_max_size = 48M 
memory_limit = 256M 
max_execution_time = 600 
max_input_vars = 3000 
max_input_time = 1000

Once you have modified your PHP settings you need to restart your Apache for the changes to take effect.

Configure PHP 7.4 FPM Pools

PHP 7.4 FPM allows you to configure the user and group that the service will run under. You can modify these with these commands

sudo nano /etc/php/7.4/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

Change the following lines by replacing the www-data with your username.

user = username 
group = username 
listen.owner = username
listen.group = username

Hit CTRL+X and Y to save the configuration and check if the configuration is correct and restart PHP.

Restart PHP 7.4 FPM

Once you have updated your PHP FPM settings you need to restart it to apply the changes.

sudo php-fpm7.4 -t 
sudo service php7.4-fpm restart

Now you are having PHP 7.4 Installed and configured.

Upgrade to PHP 7.4

Once you have installed PHP 7.4 you need to upgrade to the latest installed version of PHP.

Follow these steps to upgrade to PHP 7.4 with Apache or Nginx.

Conclusion

Now you have learned how to install PHP 7.4 on your Ubuntu server.

Thanks for your time. If you face any problem or any feedback, please leave a comment below.