Set up PHP

Here you will install multiple versions of PHP and configure them to run in FPM mode.

If using macOS and Homebrew, out of the box it provides current PHP version in a package named php (version 7.4 at the time of writing), and other officially supported PHP versions in packages namespaced with version number, for example php@7.3. Officially unsupported PHP packages are not available in official formula repository (“tap” in brew lingo). However, they are still provided in some 3rd party taps, and it’s possible to install them from there.

1 Install

1.1 If using macOS with MacPorts

Execute on the command line:

sudo port install php81-fpm php81-mysql php81-imagick php81-gd php81-curl php81-opcache php81-mbstring php81-xsl php81-intl php81-sqlite php81-zip php81-openssl php81-iconv php81-sockets php81-exif php81-memcached php81-redis php81-sodium
sudo port install php80-fpm php80-mysql php80-imagick php80-gd php80-curl php80-opcache php80-mbstring php80-xsl php80-intl php80-sqlite php80-zip php80-openssl php80-iconv php80-sockets php80-exif php80-memcached php80-redis php80-sodium
sudo port install php74-fpm php74-mysql php74-imagick php74-gd php74-curl php74-opcache php74-mbstring php74-xsl php74-intl php74-sqlite php74-zip php74-openssl php74-iconv php74-sockets php74-exif php74-memcached php74-redis php74-sodium
sudo port install php73-fpm php73-mysql php73-imagick php73-gd php73-curl php73-opcache php73-mbstring php73-xsl php73-intl php73-sqlite php73-zip php73-openssl php73-iconv php73-sockets php73-exif php73-memcached php73-redis php73-sodium
sudo port install php72-fpm php72-mysql php72-imagick php72-gd php72-curl php72-opcache php72-mbstring php72-xsl php72-intl php72-sqlite php72-zip php72-openssl php72-iconv php72-sockets php72-exif php72-memcached php72-redis php72-sodium
sudo port install php71-fpm php71-mysql php71-imagick php71-gd php71-curl php71-opcache php71-mbstring php71-xsl php71-intl php71-sqlite php71-zip php71-openssl php71-iconv php71-sockets php71-exif php71-memcached php71-redis
sudo port install php70-fpm php70-mysql php70-imagick php70-gd php70-curl php70-opcache php70-mbstring php70-xsl php70-intl php70-sqlite php70-zip php70-openssl php70-iconv php70-sockets php70-exif php70-memcached php70-redis
sudo port install php56-fpm php56-mysql php56-imagick php56-gd php56-curl php56-opcache php56-mbstring php56-xsl php56-intl php56-sqlite php56-zip php56-openssl php56-iconv php56-sockets php56-exif php56-memcached php56-redis

Select desired default PHP version:

sudo port select php php74

This PHP version will be available from the command line as php.

1.2 If using macOS with Homebrew

Install PHP 7.4, 7.3 and 7.2 using Homebrew from the official tap:

brew install php php@7.3 php@7.2

PHP versions 7.1, 7.0 and 5.6 are available in exolnet/homebrew-deprecated tap. First register this tap with your local Homebrew installation with:

brew tap exolnet/homebrew-deprecated

Now you can install PHP 7.1, 7.0 and 5.6 with:

brew install exolnet/deprecated/php@7.1
brew install exolnet/deprecated/php@7.0
brew install exolnet/deprecated/php@5.6

2 Configure

2.1 Configure PHP-FPM pool definitions

For each PHP version edit PHP-FPM pool definition files (documented further below) and update it with the following configuration options:

user = brale
group = staff
listen = /var/run/php74-fpm.sock
listen.owner = brale
listen.group = staff
pm = ondemand
pm.max_children = 6
pm.process_idle_timeout = 15m
pm.max_requests = 128
pm.status_path = /status
ping.path = /ping
ping.response = "pong"

Make sure to use your own user and group instead of brale and staff, and name the socket file corresponding to the PHP version. Use configuration already existing in the file and do not create duplicate entries.

Note: Configuration files use ; character as a comment, so make sure you remove it as needed.

PHP-FPM resource consumption

Main PHP-FPM manager process takes up a small amount of memory, but spawned workers can take up to few hundred megabytes, depending on the application that was executed. To see how many worker processes are active and how much memory they use you can check the list of processes (ps or pstree on the command line), or open the PHP-FPM status page for the specific PHP version, for example https://home.php73/status?full&html.

2.1 Configure PHP-FPM pool definitions if installed using Homebrew

Find PHP-FPM pool definitions for your PHP versions in following files

/usr/local/etc/php/7.4/php-fpm.d/www.conf
/usr/local/etc/php/7.3/php-fpm.d/www.conf
/usr/local/etc/php/7.2/php-fpm.d/www.conf
/usr/local/etc/php/7.1/php-fpm.d/www.conf
/usr/local/etc/php/7.0/php-fpm.d/www.conf
/usr/local/etc/php/5.6/php-fpm.conf

Update these pool definition files as described above.

2.2 Configure PHP-FPM pool definitions if installed using MacPorts

First create PHP-FPM configuration files by copying the default ones:

sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php81/php-fpm.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php81/php-fpm.conf
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php80/php-fpm.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php80/php-fpm.conf
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php74/php-fpm.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php74/php-fpm.conf
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php73/php-fpm.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php73/php-fpm.conf
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php72/php-fpm.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php72/php-fpm.conf
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php71/php-fpm.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php71/php-fpm.conf
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php70/php-fpm.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php70/php-fpm.conf
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php56/php-fpm.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php56/php-fpm.conf

You don’t need to change the default configuration values.

Next, create PHP-FPM pool definitions by copying the default ones:

sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php81/php-fpm.d/www.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php81/php-fpm.d/www.conf
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php80/php-fpm.d/www.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php80/php-fpm.d/www.conf
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php74/php-fpm.d/www.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php74/php-fpm.d/www.conf
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php73/php-fpm.d/www.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php73/php-fpm.d/www.conf
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php72/php-fpm.d/www.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php72/php-fpm.d/www.conf
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php71/php-fpm.d/www.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php71/php-fpm.d/www.conf
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php70/php-fpm.d/www.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php70/php-fpm.d/www.conf

Note: similar as with Homebrew, for PHP 5.6 pool definition in the main FPM configuration file.

Update the created pool definition files as described above.

3 Configure PHP

For each PHP version find its configuration file (documented further below) and update it with the following configuration options:

date.timezone = Europe/Zagreb
session.gc_maxlifetime = 86400
memory_limit = 256M
error_log = /Users/brale/php73.log

Don’t forget to modify error log path to your user’s home directory, and set the correct PHP version depending on the ini file you’re modifying.

Note: Configuration files use ; character as a comment, so make sure you remove it as needed.

3.1 Configure PHP if using macOS and Homebrew

Find the configuration for your PHP versions in the following files:

/usr/local/etc/php/7.4/php.ini
/usr/local/etc/php/7.3/php.ini
/usr/local/etc/php/7.2/php.ini
/usr/local/etc/php/7.1/php.ini
/usr/local/etc/php/7.0/php.ini
/usr/local/etc/php/5.6/php.ini

Update these configuration files as described above.

3.2 Configure PHP if using macOS and MacPorts

First create PHP configuration files by copying the default ones:

sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php81/php.ini-development /opt/local/etc/php81/php.ini
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php80/php.ini-development /opt/local/etc/php80/php.ini
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php74/php.ini-development /opt/local/etc/php74/php.ini
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php73/php.ini-development /opt/local/etc/php73/php.ini
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php72/php.ini-development /opt/local/etc/php72/php.ini
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php71/php.ini-development /opt/local/etc/php71/php.ini
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php70/php.ini-development /opt/local/etc/php70/php.ini
sudo cp /opt/local/etc/php56/php.ini-development /opt/local/etc/php56/php.ini

Update the created configuration files as described above and additionally with:

pdo_mysql.default_socket=/opt/local/var/run/mysql/mysqld.sock
mysqli.default_socket=/opt/local/var/run/mysql/mysqld.sock

This will enable using localhost as the database host from your application.

5 Start PHP-FPM services

You can now start PHP services.

5.1 Start PHP-FPM services if installed using Homebrew

sudo brew services start php@7.4
sudo brew services start php@7.3
sudo brew services start php@7.2
sudo brew services start php@7.1
sudo brew services start php@7.0
sudo brew services start php@5.6

This will also ensure that PHP-FPM server starts automatically after a reboot.

Remember to restart them after changing PHP configuration in the future with:

sudo brew services restart php@x.x

To stop the server and prevent it from running after a reboot, execute:

sudo brew services stop phpxx-fpm

5.2 Start PHP-FPM services if installed using MacPorts

sudo port load php81-fpm
sudo port load php80-fpm
sudo port load php74-fpm
sudo port load php73-fpm
sudo port load php72-fpm
sudo port load php71-fpm
sudo port load php70-fpm
sudo port load php56-fpm

This will also ensure that PHP-FPM server starts automatically after a reboot.

Remember to restart them after changing PHP configuration in the future with:

sudo port reload phpxx-fpm

To stop the server and prevent it from running after a reboot, execute:

sudo port unload phpxx-fpm

6 Install PHP extensions

Installed PHP will come with built-in extension, but if your project requires additional extensions, these have to be installed separately.

6.1 Install PHP extensions using MacPorts

MacPorts already provides installable PHP extensions, find them for a particular PHP version by executing:

port list php56\*

Simply install the PHP extension you need, using MacPorts, for example:

sudo port install php56-memcached

6.2 If using Homebrew, compile the required PHP extensions manually

Install extensions using pecl for the specific version of php, for example:

/usr/local/Cellar/php@7.1/7.1.33/bin/pecl install imagick

Add the extension ini file to the conf.d folder for the specific version of php, for example:

echo "extension=imagick.so" > /usr/local/etc/php/7.1/conf.d/ext-imagick.ini

Make sure to replace the path to the pecl binary, the extension and the extension ini file to match your version of php and the extension you want to install.