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I imagine it won't up until 14.10 is released, but even if that is the case, could we expect to see it show up in the repos that 14.04 uses?

4 Answers 4

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Updated: I Just got an email back from Marc Deslauriers (security engineer at Canonical, so somebody who would know) and the answer is: Probably never. Unless something goes catastrophically wrong with 5.5, it'll have security patches backported for the lifespan of 14.04.

Yes, like most packages in Ubuntu, the security team backports security fixes, including for versions that are no longer supported by upstream.

As of 15.04, the php5* packages are version 5.6. However I would not recommend using a non-LTS release on a production server as they require release upgrades every 9 months (opposed to the 5 years an LTS gets you).

And the only Canonical-supported version in 16.04 seems to be PHP7.


Around June 2016, maybe earlier, maybe never. There are a few different forces at play here:

So unless somebody jumps in an plans on manually maintaining 5.5 (stranger things have happened) there probably will be a transition at some point. It's impossible to say when that'll be this far out though.

If you're deploying on 5.5, I'd get testing on 5.6 well in advance, just to make sure you're not caught out. Another option is to use a branch of PHP (like Zend Server) that has commercial support seemingly spanning into the next millennium.

5
  • 1
    This is an excellent answer --- your second bullet point is precisely why I asked this question, so thank you - !
    – rm-vanda
    Sep 23, 2014 at 16:26
  • 3
    I have submitted an email to ubuntu-devel-discuss asking for clarification. I'll update as I find out more.
    – Oli
    Sep 23, 2014 at 16:33
  • Brilliant-! Thank you very much for the in-depth and truly canonical answer! XD
    – rm-vanda
    Sep 23, 2014 at 21:29
  • JFTR most of the patches that go into PHP 5.6 can be applied to PHP 5.5 with enough care. So running PHP 5.5 might not be as bad as it seems. I would also suggest to directly test compliance with PHP 7.0 instead of just PHP 5.6, so you can jump to Ubuntu 16.04.
    – oerdnj
    Apr 18, 2016 at 11:10
  • Here's the link to the email response: lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-discuss/2014-September/…
    – icc97
    May 9, 2017 at 18:17
22

If you really want PHP 5.6 on Ubuntu 12.04, 14.04 or 14.10, you can use this PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php5-5.6
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install php5

The default php5 package dependency will pull libapache2-mod-php5 that in turn depends on Apache. If you want to use different PHP SAPI, make sure you explicitly list it when installing, f.e. for PHP FPM use:

sudo apt-get install php5 php5-fpm

Annotation: Since December 2015 if you have Apache installed, there is also a dependency on Ondrej's Apache2 PPA:

ppa:ondrej/apache2

As an option I would strongly recommend to use ppa:ondrej/php that includes co-installable PHP 5.6 and PHP 7.0 versions:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
sudo apt-get update
# pull a default PHP FPM (currently PHP 7.0)
sudo apt-get install php php-fpm
# pull PHP 7.0 Apache2 mod_php7 explicitly
sudo apt-get install php7.0 libapache2-mod-php7.0
# pull PHP 5.6 - just CGI SAPI
sudo apt-get install php5.6-cgi
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  • 5
    I'm pretty sure php5 includes Apache which not everyone uses. php5-cli is more desirable.
    – mpen
    Dec 29, 2014 at 2:53
  • php5-cli is not installable from the PPA.
    – Smile4ever
    Jan 22, 2016 at 19:34
  • php5 doesn't include Apache2 support. libapache2-mod-php5 is just a default dependency, so you could do apt-get install php5 php5-fpm and it won't install libapache2-mod-php5.
    – oerdnj
    Apr 18, 2016 at 11:07
  • I am pretty sure that php5-cli is installable from the PPA, but most probably you want php5-fpm and a server with FastCGI support like apache2 or nginx.
    – oerdnj
    Apr 18, 2016 at 11:08
  • 1
    For those wondering about the safety / reputation of the ondrej/php PPA: askubuntu.com/a/628214/164151 Dec 27, 2016 at 20:09
2

No, 14.10 doesn't have PHP 5.6 (and even if it did, it probably wouldn't gt into the 14.04 repos).

http://packages.ubuntu.com/utopic/php5

3
  • The link is broken and I'm not sure what it should actually be pointing at perhaps this packages.ubuntu.com/trusty/php5 ?
    – icc97
    May 9, 2017 at 18:14
  • @icc97 This question was about 14.10, which is now EOL. Nothing to see here anymore.
    – fkraiem
    May 9, 2017 at 19:25
  • Fair enough, I just shed a silent tear every time I hit a broken link. :)
    – icc97
    May 9, 2017 at 19:32
2

Ubuntu 15.04 has PHP 5.6 in it. So if you don't care for LTS, upgrade to Ubuntu 15.04.

So to answer the question: yes. it is now included in the repositories, but only starting with Ubuntu 15.04.

1
  • Actually by the time the next LTS is released, it might very well be PHP 7.something, which has a much stronger value proposition than 5.6.x.
    – FGM
    Jul 9, 2015 at 12:44

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