Notes

Apache - Marcus Povey

I have been using ownCloud for a while now as a way to share files across my different devices. I've also learned How to Make a Minecraft Server and it's been a lot of fun. It's an PHP application so it's easy to set up.



Anyway, I updated my server to PHP 7.3 to be able to run the most recent Known code, in addition to other things. PHP 7.3 is the most up-to-date stable code and should be used by everyone.



This caused an issue, since ownCloud would only run on PHP versions up to and including 7.2! Although PHP 7.3 will be supported in the upcoming version of ownCloud the release schedules are a bit slow and I needed to get my syncing on track.



The best solution is to use PHP 7.2 for the ownCloud server and then PHP 7.3 for everything else.





Installing PHP-FPM

If you are still using the old mod_php apache module, you will need to install PHP-FPM.



I had planned to do this anyway since this is the most modern method of running PHP. It's faster, gives you numerous options for performance, and most importantly for me, it separates Apache from PHP meaning you have the option of running several versions.
guimods.com


This is possible on Debian-based servers (mine is Debian with a third-party PHP.7.3 Apt repository). It's a very simple process:



You'll also need to install all the PHP modules you need (pdo, gd, etc), but I'll leave that an exercise for the reader.



Next, you want to change your configuration:



There are two points you should note. First, replace the a2dismod with the latest PHP version. Also, you'll be able to tell that I didn't activate PHP 7.2 FPM configuration. This is because PHP 7.3 should be the default, but PHP 7.2 can be enabled on select virtual hosts.



You'll see something similar to this when you go to PHPinfo()



Note the PHP version and the Server API.



You'll see PHP 7.3 FPM servers running if you check your server processes.





Configuring ownCloud's VirtualHost to use PHP 7.2

Now, you have to modify your ownCloud VirtualHost to use the PHP 7.2 fast CGI server.



Again, this is really really easy, and is pretty much a cut and paste from the php7.2-fpm.conf file you'll find in your /etc/apache2/conf-available directory.



The following should be included in your ownCloud definition of virtual host



Now you will see PHP 7.2 running when you run phpinfo() on your ownCloud.



Now I can get back to synchronizing my files while running the latest PHP version for other domains.



This is a useful feature that could be used to get more than just slow to get software updated and running. This technique will allow me to run a cutting-edge PHP version like PHP 7.4 against my development version, Known, and keep my blog running the stable version.



Anyway, I thought it was cool. I hope you'll find it useful too!


Here's my website: https://guimods.com/