How to solve a PHP error in Laravel without changing the version?

Question

I have run into a problem when trying to upload my Laravel project to my live web server. Everything works perfectly on local server. But, my local server is running PHP 7.2.6, and my host server only supports 7.1 at this time. So, when I try to set up cron jobs for my server to run my Laravel scheduled tasks, I get this error:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected 'class' (T_CLASS), expecting identifier (T_STRING) or variable (T_VARIABLE) or '{' or '$' in /home/me/project/artisan on line 31

This line contains:

$kernel = $app->make(Illuminate\Contracts\Console\Kernel::class);

And I know the issue has to do with calling Kernel::class, but I am unable to change the PHP version to 7.2 to solve this. So, is there another workaround? My only worry is that even if I took care of this error, that there would be more.

I assume that you're using shared hosting. Even if shared hosting, you should able to change your php version at cpanel. Dİd you check it ? — Teoman Tıngır, Aug 17 '18 at 23:03
What command did you use to set up your cronjob(s)? Do you have access to the command line? — Rwd, Aug 17 '18 at 23:03
Yes, I set it to use `7.1 edge`, which is supposed to be the lastest version of 7.1 they have available. — develpr, Aug 17 '18 at 23:04
Here is the command for my cronjob `/usr/local/bin/php /home/me/project/artisan schedule:run 2>&1` — develpr, Aug 17 '18 at 23:05
If you run `/usr/local/bin/php -v` in the command line what version does it say? — Rwd, Aug 17 '18 at 23:06
you may want to try downgrade your laravel version to 5.5, it requires php 7.0 https://laravel.com/docs/5.5#server-requirements .. just delete composer.lock and vendor directory and change laravel version on composer.json and use `composer install"`command — Teoman Tıngır, Aug 17 '18 at 23:07
Ahhhhh that's it @RossWilson. The default version is 5.4. How would I point to 7.1? — develpr, Aug 17 '18 at 23:08
When I simply try `php` the same error comes up, and `/usr/local/bin/php71` doesn't exist — develpr, Aug 17 '18 at 23:16
I don't have access to a cPanel box to test this sorry. If you run `ls /opt/cpanel | grep ea-` does it produce any results? — Rwd, Aug 17 '18 at 23:18
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/178231/discussion-between-hoolakoola-and-ross-wilson). — develpr, Aug 17 '18 at 23:28

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 18 '18 at 00:07

The error your getting seems to suggest you're using PHP <=5.4.

The default version of php used by the cli might not be the same version as the one being used for your site.

You can check this by running php -v on the command line to see which version it's using. If it is the wrong version then you should be able to run whereis php to get a list of paths to the different php versions available.

Once you've found the correct version then you can update your cronjob to use the path to the correct php executable e.g.

/path/to/php /home/username/path-to-artisan schedule:run > /dev/null 2>&1

How to solve a PHP error in Laravel without changing the version?

1 Answers1