Installing PHP 5.6 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS can be a bit tricky, as the PHP 5.6 version is not available in the standard Ubuntu 20.04 repositories. However, it’s not impossible. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of installing PHP 5.6 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS using Docker, a popular platform used to deliver software in packages called containers.
Prerequisites
Before we start, you need to have Docker installed on your Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. If you haven’t installed Docker yet, you can follow the official Docker installation guide here.
Step 1: Pull PHP 5.6 Docker Image
Once Docker is installed, you can pull the PHP 5.6 image from Docker Hub using the following command:
docker pull phpdockerio/php56-fpm:latestThis command will download the latest version of the PHP 5.6 Docker image from Docker Hub. The docker pull command fetches the Docker images from the Docker Hub, which is the default registry. phpdockerio/php56-fpm:latest is the name of the Docker image.
Step 2: Run the Docker Container
After the image is pulled, you can run a Docker container using this image with the following command:
docker run -d -p 9000:9000 phpdockerio/php56-fpmIn this command, docker run is used to start a new Docker container. The -d option tells Docker to run the container in the background. The -p option tells Docker to map the port 9000 of the container to the port 9000 of your host system. phpdockerio/php56-fpm is the name of the Docker image.
Step 3: Verify the PHP Version
To verify that PHP 5.6 is running correctly, you can execute the following command:
docker exec -it <container_id> php -vReplace <container_id> with the ID of your Docker container. You can get the ID of your Docker container by running docker ps.
The docker exec command allows you to run commands in a Docker container. The -it option is used to get an interactive terminal. php -v is the command that will be run in the Docker container, which prints the PHP version.
Conclusion
In this guide, we’ve shown you how to install PHP 5.6 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS using Docker. This method is a bit more complex than a standard PHP installation, but it allows you to run PHP 5.6 alongside other PHP versions on the same system, which can be very useful for development environments.
Remember to replace <container_id> with your actual Docker container ID in the commands. If you have any questions or run into any issues, feel free to ask in the comments section.
No, PHP 5.6 is no longer supported. Its official support ended on December 31, 2018. However, some organizations may still be using PHP 5.6 for legacy applications.
PHP 5.6 is not available in the standard Ubuntu 20.04 repositories because it is an older version that is no longer officially supported. Ubuntu focuses on providing the latest stable versions of software, so older versions may not be included in the default repositories.
Docker allows you to create isolated containers that contain all the necessary dependencies and configurations for running PHP 5.6. This makes it easier to manage and deploy PHP 5.6 applications, especially when you need to run multiple PHP versions on the same system.
Yes, Docker allows you to run multiple containers, each with a different PHP version. This means you can run PHP 5.6 alongside other PHP versions on the same system without conflicts.
By default, the PHP 5.6 container exposes port 9000. You can access the PHP 5.6 container from your host system by accessing localhost:9000 in your web browser or by configuring your web server to proxy requests to port 9000.
You can extend the PHP 5.6 container by creating a custom Dockerfile and installing the required extensions using the RUN command. Once you have the custom Dockerfile, you can build a new image using docker build and then run a container based on that image.
Yes, you can use this method to install PHP 5.6 on other Ubuntu versions as well. However, make sure to check the compatibility of Docker with the specific Ubuntu version you are using.
Yes, there are alternative methods to install PHP 5.6 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS without using Docker, such as using third-party repositories or compiling PHP from source. However, these methods may require more manual configuration and can be more complex than using Docker.
