Step by Step: Compile Install PHP 8 on Rocky 9 / RHEL-based others

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

* Compiling Needs Memory Space!\
If the memory space of your device is Lower than 2GB, You had better Create a Swap.

1. Prepare

   dnf groupinstall "Development Tools"
   
   dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb
   
   dnf makecache --refresh
   
   dnf install libxml2-devel libicu-devel sqlite-devel libxslt-devel libpng-devel libjpeg-devel freetype-devel libzip-devel git systemd-devel curl-devel

   Install Oniguruma

   git clone https://github.com/kkos/oniguruma.git
   cd oniguruma
   ./autogen.sh
   ./configure --bindir=/usr/sbin/ \
           --sbindir=/usr/sbin/ \
           --libexecdir=/usr/libexec \
           --sysconfdir=/etc/ \
           --localstatedir=/var \
           --libdir=/usr/lib64/  \
           --includedir=/usr/include/ \
           --datarootdir=/usr/share \
           --infodir=/usr/share/info \
           --localedir=/usr/share/locale \
           --mandir=/usr/share/man/ \
           --docdir=/usr/share/doc/onig
   make && make install

   Add user for FPM

   adduser www

2. Download the Source
   

   Copy the link you need and download and then unzip.

   wget https://www.php.net/distributions/php-8.1.2.tar.gz
   
   tar -xzf php-8.1.2.tar.gz

3. Pre-Compile

   See all options in

   Here are the recommended options (FPM included):

   cd php-8.1.2
   # Replace UR_WEB_USER into your user for php-fpm
   ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/php/ --enable-fpm --with-openssl --enable-bcmath --with-curl --enable-ftp --enable-gd --enable-mbstring --enable-sockets --enable-pcntl --with-zlib --enable-intl --with-fpm-systemd --enable-pdo --enable-xml --with-zip --with-gettext --with-freetype --enable-opcache --enable-shmop --with-fpm-user=UR_WEB_USER --with-fpm-group=UR_WEB_USER
   

   If need to support MySQL, add those options you need. The Directories and Configs depend on your env.
   (MySQL here installed by DNF)

   --enable-mysqlnd --with-pdo-mysql=mysqlnd --with-mysqli --with-mysql-sock=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock

4. Compile & Install

   make && make install

5. Finish Config

   Copy Config File to the Install Directory

   cp PATH_TO_THE_SRC/php.ini-production /usr/local/php/php.ini
   cp /usr/local/php/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf.default /usr/local/php/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf
   cp /usr/local/php/etc/php-fpm.conf.default /usr/local/php/etc/php-fpm.conf

   Add Php to systemd as a service (Recommended, make it easier to manage)

   1. Edit PID Location

   # Open the File
   vim /usr/local/php/etc/php-fpm.conf
   
   # Find the part and Change into
   pid = /var/run/php-fpm.pid

   2. Write the systemd script

   # Create one and edit
   vim /lib/systemd/system/php-fpm.service

   3. Then, add the content.

   [Unit]
   Description=The PHP FastCGI Process Manager
   After=syslog.target network.target
   
   [Service]
   Type=forking
   PIDFile=/var/run/php-fpm.pid
   ExecStart=/usr/local/php/sbin/php-fpm
   ExecReload=/bin/kill -USR2 $MAINPID
   PrivateTmp=true
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target

   4. Reload systemd

   systemctl daemon-reload

6. Enjoy it!