Php – Switch from PHP 7.2 to 7.1 on Ubuntu 16.04, Apache

apache-2.4PHPphp7ubuntu-16.04

I need to downgrade PHP on one of my VMs from 7.2 to 7.1 on Ubuntu 16.0.4. The last time I tried to remove just PHP and replace it with a different version, I had all kinds of issues with Apache and MySQL. Is there a quick way to downgrade PHP from 7.2 to 7.1 without having to fully reinstall and configure Apache (latest version as of this writing) and everything else on the server?

I have to downgrade due to bad information I received from a software vendor that claims their application runs on PHP 7.2. Turns out it must have 7.1.

I tried looking for info about how to downgrade from 7.2 to 7.1, but only get 'upgrade' results.

Thank you for your help.

Best Answer

Below is a description of what I did. I hope this information can help someone else:

I installed PHP 7.1 along side PHP 7.2. I also installed most of the needed extensions for PHP 7.1. I then did a2dismod php7.2 and a2enmod php7.1 so that I could switch over to PHP 7.1 while keeping 7.2 still installed on the server. Most of my sites work after making the switch. The only site that doesn't seem to be working is a Joomla site. The full list of commands I ran are below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install php7.1

sudo apt-get install php7.1-cli php7.1-common php7.1-json php7.1-opcache php7.1-mysql php7.1-mbstring php7.1-mcrypt php7.1-zip php7.1-fpm

sudo a2dismod php7.2

sudo a2enmod php7.1

sudo service apache2 restart
Related Topic