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I need to downgrade my PHP version from 5.5.9 to 5.4 (using Ubuntu 14.04), because I have a code that's using mySQL (which is deprecated in 5.5.9), and I cannot change that code. Is there a way to do it?

*I tried the other threads that I saw about that issue in the site, but I couldn't find anything that helped me.

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  • How can I roll back after this command. I can't install phpmyadmin now
    – user335364
    Oct 7, 2014 at 15:00

2 Answers 2

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First you need to remove all php5 files :

sudo apt-get remove --purge `dpkg -l | grep php | grep -w 5.5 | awk '{print $2}' | xargs`

After that try to search for php 5.4. available resources :

apt-cache policy php5

My result :

php5:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 5.5.9+dfsg-1ubuntu4.4
  Version table:
     5.5.9+dfsg-1ubuntu4.4 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-security/main amd64 Packages
     5.5.9+dfsg-1ubuntu4 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages

If there is no resources available than we need to add some by following command :

echo "deb http://php53.dotdeb.org stable all" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list

and

apt-get update

If there is a problem with signatures like following :

Reading package lists... Done
W: GPG error: http://php53.dotdeb.org stable Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY xxxxxCODExxxx

we need to sign our Deb repository by commands :

gpg --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-key xxxxxCODExxxx
gpg -a --export xxxxxCODExxxx | sudo apt-key add - apt-get update

After that execute :

sudo apt-get update
apt-cache policy php5

you should see last result :

php5:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 5.5.9+dfsg-1ubuntu4.4
  Version table:
     5.5.9+dfsg-1ubuntu4.4 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-security/main amd64 Packages
     5.5.9+dfsg-1ubuntu4 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
     5.4.33-1~dotdeb.1 0
        500 http://php53.dotdeb.org/ stable/all amd64 Packages

and finally install your version by hitting :

apt-get install php5=5.4.33-1~dotdeb.1

Enjoy ;)

12
  • select it as ur answer Jul 15, 2014 at 17:37
  • I don't have enough reputation :(
    – Hagaymosko
    Jul 16, 2014 at 18:08
  • It didn't work...
    – Hagaymosko
    Jul 16, 2014 at 18:12
  • please note the EXACT version of php 5.4 available. the final step didn't work for me until I changed to 5.4.34 which is what is currently available. 5.4.33 is not there anymore Oct 27, 2014 at 19:55
  • I followed these instructions and there were no errors, the output of the final command apt-get install php5=5.4.35-1~dotdeb.1 indicated that it was installing the correct version, but php --version still show PHP 5.5.9-1ubuntu4.5
    – RTF
    Dec 3, 2014 at 21:15
3

add dotdeb repo by following command :

echo "deb http://php53.dotdeb.org stable all" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list

Fetch and install the GnuPG key

wget http://www.dotdeb.org/dotdeb.gpg
sudo apt-key add dotdeb.gpg

Then

sudo apt-get update

The easy way to install the specific version is via synaptic

enter image description here

all done

enter image description here

also you should downgrade the apache to install right "libapache2-mod-php5"

add precise repo by the following command

echo "deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list && sudo apt-get update

then

sudo aptitude install apache2=2.2.22-1ubuntu1.7

make sure you accept the following

The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

Install the following packages:
1) apache2-mpm-prefork [2.2.22-1ubuntu1.7 (precise-security)]
2) apache2.2-bin [2.2.22-1ubuntu1.7 (precise-security)]

then

sudo aptitude install libapache2-mod-php5=5.4.36-1~dotdeb.1

don't forget to set specific version when try to install an php package

sudo aptitude install php5-mysql=5.4.36-1~dotdeb.1
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  • @fareednamrouti glad it will help you Jan 13, 2015 at 14:28
  • No gui for the wicked :( Running Ubuntu server.
    – Edenshaw
    Oct 27, 2015 at 17:45

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