Activate PHP on macOS Monterrey

[avivamientodev]

macOS Monterrey ships without PHP (it's been deprecated). I installed PHP from here using brew, but now I can't find how to activate PHP, it's not being interpreted, all I get is the code from PHP documents. I will appreciate some help. Thanks !!

[shivammathur]

After installing php make sure you have linked the PHP version as documented in the README.
https://github.com/shivammathur/homebrew-php#install-php

Then check that the correct PHP version is installed by running php -v in a new terminal.

If you are trying to run PHP with a web server like apache/httpd. Make sure you have set it up correctly.
This is a good guide for that: https://getgrav.org/blog/macos-bigsur-apache-multiple-php-versions

[avivamientodev]

Thank you very much

[avivamientodev]

What I found (it's my recommendation for every one), Is to go through this process after a clean macOS Big Sur installation, This one is the second time that I use this procedure, and in both cases, installing over a clean installation (before installing anything else), it worked perfectly ... What I would like to know now is if someone after finishing this process, has installed macOS Monterrey without losing the web server and/or PHP.

[dlakmalb]

@gemkev

If the above does not work, try creating a self-signed certificate and using that.

codesign --sign "php key" --force --keychain ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db /opt/homebrew/opt/php/lib/httpd/modules/libphp.so

Then in httpd.conf add the key to the LoadModule line.

LoadModule php_module /opt/homebrew/opt/php/lib/httpd/modules/libphp.so "php key"

Finally, restart Apache.

brew services restart httpd

Let me know if this works.

@shivammathur what should i provide for the php key.

[gemkev]

@gemkev can i have the link you used.

Hey @dlakmalb. Here's the link: https://www.simplified.guide/macos/apache-php-homebrew-codesign.

It takes you through the process step by step, linking to other pages for creating a Certificate Authority and creating a certificate.

I had absolutely no clue how to do any of this, but the rundown at that link is really clear and precise. Follow every step to the letter. Do make sure to scroll step 8 to the right, so you can see how to include the certificate name ('php key' in @shivammathur's answer above). I missed that first time round, as I said in my original reply.

It's quite involved, but it works perfectly. :)

[shivammathur]

@dlakmalb @gemkev "php key" can be any string. It is the certificate name.

[dlakmalb]

I'm not sure about reinstallation currently, It's early days for this, so let see. Maybe there is something homebrew can do as part of the installation to avoid this. Otherwise, I will update the README accordingly once I have tested this on Monterey.

brew services for httpd is a wrapper around apachectl.

@shivammathur Do i need to create certificate again after changing the php version 7.4 to 7.1. please help.

[shivammathur]

Yes, you will have to run the codesign command again for the PHP 7.1 library and replace it in the apache config with the certificate name as a suffix. You can use the same certificate to sign the 7.1 library.

codesign --sign "php key" --force --keychain ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db /opt/homebrew/opt/php@7.1/lib/httpd/modules/libphp7.so

[dlakmalb]

@shivammathur and @gemkev Thanks for your opinions. I did it. Thank you very much again.