Multiple php versions simultaneously on Ubuntu

Question

I want to be able to run multiple php versions on my development box running Ubuntu 12.04. What I want to accomplish is that when I use localhost as a domain a default is used (let's say php 5.3.17). When I use 547.localhost as domain php 5.4.7 is used. I've seen some tutorials to get this working using fastcgi but until now I haven't been able to get it to work. I've looked at these tutorials:

1. http://dbforch.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/apache2-fastcgi-multiple-php-versions-ubuntulucid-10-04/
2. http://www.metod.si/multiple-php-versions-with-apache-2-fastcgi-phpfarm-on-ubuntu/

For as far as I can see I have done everything that is needed. The problem is that php simply doesn't run. When I go to http://localhost/somephpfile.php it just outputs the source of the php file. The same for http://547.localhost/somephpfile.php.

I'll break down what steps I took in the hope that someone is able to spot what I missed.

1. First I installed a default lamp stack using sudo apt-get install lamp-server^ phpmyadmin. After this, I had a working development server running the repository version of php.

2. Then I used phpfarm to create two php installs, one for 5.3.17 and one for 5.4.7. The localion of phpfarm is /etc/php/phpfarm, so the executables are in /etc/php/phpfarm/inst/php-{version}/bin

3. Then I enable suaxec and fastcgi for apache and disable mod_php with sudo a2enmod fastcgi actions suexec && sudo a2dismod php5

4. Next, I edited /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/fastcgi.conf to read:

   <IfModule mod_fastcgi.c> FastCgiIpcDir /var/lib/apache2/fastcgi FastCgiWrapper /usr/lib/apache2/suexec FastCgiConfig -idle-timeout 110 -killInterval 120 -pass-header HTTP_AUTHORIZATION -autoUpdate ScriptAlias /php-fcgi/ /var/www/cgi-bin/ </IfModule> 

5. Then in /var/www/ I created a folder cgi-bin and in this folder two files, for each of the two php versions as follows (I show only the one for 5.3.17 /var/www/php5317.fcgi):

   #!/bin/sh # you can change the PHP version here. version="5.3.17" # php.ini file location, */php-5.2.13/lib equals */php-5.2.13/lib/php.ini. PHPRC=/etc/php/phpfarm/inst/php-${version}/lib/php.ini export PHPRC PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=3 export PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=5000 export PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS # which php-cgi binary to execute exec /etc/php/phpfarm/inst/php-${version}/bin/php-cgi 

6. The last step was to create virtual hosts. In the end I have three files in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled: 000-default, php5.3.17 and php5.4.7 With the following contents:

   default:

   <VirtualHost *:80> ServerName localhost DocumentRoot /var/www <Directory "/var/www"> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews AllowOverride All Order allow,deny allow from all AddHandler php-cgi .php Action php-cgi /php-fcgi/php5317.fcgi </Directory> </VirtualHost> 

   php5.3.17:

   <VirtualHost *:80> ServerName 5317.localhost DocumentRoot /var/www <Directory "/var/www"> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews AllowOverride All Order allow,deny allow from all AddHandler php-cgi .php Action php-cgi /php-fcgi/php5317.fcgi </Directory> </VirtualHost> 

   php5.4.7:

   <VirtualHost *:80> ServerName 547.localhost DocumentRoot /var/www <Directory "/var/www"> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews AllowOverride All Order allow,deny allow from all AddHandler php-cgi .php Action php-cgi /php-fcgi/php547.fcgi </Directory> </VirtualHost> 

7. Finally I changed /etc/hosts to read

   127.0.0.1 localhost 127.0.0.1 547.localhost 127.0.0.1 5317.localhost # The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts ::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback fe00::0 ip6-localnet ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix ff02::1 ip6-allnodes ff02::2 ip6-allrouters 

Now I would expect things to work, but sadly they don't. Instead of that, a php file runs through php it just outputs the raw file.

There must be something I missed here, but I have gone through the process many times and I can't figure out where it goes wrong.

Answer 1

In your virtualhosts you added a handler, but you didn't set the handler which is why it isn't processed. Add:

<FilesMatch "\.php$"> SetHandler php-cgi </FilesMatch> 

before </Directory> in each virtual hosts file.

Answer 2

I liked this short step-by-step overview by SeeDoubleYou and wanted to try it myself. What was missing was

• sudo chmod +x /var/www/cgi-bin/*
  • Since this wasn't executed, apache wasn't able to execute the cgi scripts
  • This is needed for the line Action php-cgi /php-fcgi/php<version>.fcgi in the vhost.conf file
• sudo apt-get install apache2-suexec-pristine libapache2-mod-fastcgi
  • suexec executable and fastcgi module were missing, they had to be installed first
  • The suexec executable is needed for the line FastCgiWrapper /usr/lib/apache2/suexec in the fastcgi.conf file
• I also had to remove the line FastCgiIpcDir /var/lib/apache2/fastcgi
  • otherwise I got the error message FastCgiIpcDir /var/lib/apache2/fastcgi: already defined as "/var/lib/apache2/fastcgi"

For anyone trying to set php_admin_value and php_value via .htaccess or vhosts files: This isn't possible with FCGI. Instead you can use .user.ini files to set directory specific php.ini configurations.