How to use the php that brew installed?

Question

On my mac I've got php installed and working fine. I recently wanted to install mcrypt, so I did so using brew. Although it seemed to install fine, it doesn't show up in my phpinfo(). So I think that the php that brew installed mcrypt in, isn't the php that apache uses.

Does anybody know how I can:

1. check whether there is a difference between the php installed by brew and the php which Apache uses?
2. make apache use the php that brew installed?

All tips are welcome!

Answer 1

According to the contributors of the Homebrew php formula...

The contributors of the Homebrew php formula give the following instructions. The exact instructions reproduced here install php7.4. Substitute the php version you need.

(Avoid "special" ways of accomplishing your objective; they are often problematic. "Official" approaches are more likely to give you a predictable, maintainable setup.)

$ brew search php // since php can be installed by homebrew but be missing from your PATH, review the list of php versions available through homebrew; a checkmark next to a version indicates one is installed
$ brew install php@7.4
$ echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/opt/php@7.4/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc // add the alias to your path (issues you are using zsh, the default now for macOS); see comments output during installation
$ source ~/.zshrc // reload . zshrc to use the new settings immediately

The contributors of the formula also provide the following instructions for enabling PHP in Apache:

To enable PHP in Apache add the following to httpd.conf and restart Apache:

   LoadModule php_module /usr/local/opt/php/lib/httpd/modules/libphp.so  

   <FilesMatch \.php$>  
       SetHandler application/x-httpd-php  
   </FilesMatch>`

Finally, check DirectoryIndex includes index.php

   DirectoryIndex index.php index.html  

The php.ini and php-fpm.ini file can be found in:

   /usr/local/etc/php/7.4/

These instructions for enabling PHP in Apache appear in stdout when you install php. Alternatively in Terminal use brew info php or visit the Homebrew PHP formula page

Answer 2

You have to make your Apache use the PHP that you just downloaded.

• Open your httpd.conf (mine is at /etc/apache2/httpd.conf) and look for the line that loads the PHP module, something like:

  LoadModule php5_module path/to/php

• Then, make it point to the PHP that brew installed for you with mcrypt support. Mine was at this path. Yours can vary depending on the PHP version that you installed.

  /usr/local/Cellar/php54/5.4.21/libexec/apache2/libphp5.so

• Finally you will need to restart your Apache server to load the new configuration:

  sudo apachectl restart

Answer 3

Can't comment on stackoverflow yet due to my lack of experience but to add to the above answer is correct. Just an additional comment to find the correct path:

run:

brew info php54

or which ever version u have installed and it will show you the path:

To enable PHP in Apache add the following to httpd.conf and restart Apache:
    LoadModule php5_module    /usr/local/opt/php54/libexec/apache2/libphp5.so

Answer 4

brew install php installs php 7.3 at the moment, versions below are keg-only

You can make aliases for versions below by adding this to:

~/.profile

alias php@5.6='$(brew --prefix php@5.6)/bin/php'
alias php@7.0='$(brew --prefix php@7.0)/bin/php'
alias php@7.1='$(brew --prefix php@7.1)/bin/php'
alias php@7.2='$(brew --prefix php@7.2)/bin/php'

~/.bashrc

source ~/.profile

~/.zshrc

[[ -e ~/.profile ]] && emulate sh -c 'source ~/.profile'

Then you can:

php@5.6 -v
php@7.0 -v
php@7.1 -v
php@7.2 -v

If you use composer and the platform php is not set in your project then this can be handy:

~/.profile

alias composer@5.6='php@5.6 $(which composer)'
alias composer@7.0='php@7.0 $(which composer)'
alias composer@7.1='php@7.1 $(which composer)'
alias composer@7.2='php@7.2 $(which composer)'

If you use artisan a lot (artisan maps to php which is 7.3) then this can be handy:

~/.profile

alias artisan@5.6='php@5.6 artisan'
alias artisan@7.0='php@7.0 artisan'
alias artisan@7.1='php@7.1 artisan'
alias artisan@7.2='php@7.2 artisan'

Answer 5

I would create an alias to it so you don't disturb the system PHP install.

brew info php71

Brew installs into /usr/local/Cellar so you can add the following to your ~/.bash_alias or ~/.profile.

alias php7='/usr/local/Cellar/php71/7.1.10_21/bin/php'

Answer 6

As of 2021, all you need is

brew install php

then

brew link php

This will give you php 8.0 and setup your symlinks.

Answer 7

Try: brew link php71 --force to use brew specific php version. It worked for me.