Moving from Apache to FrankenPhp : how to manage local virtualhosts and PHP versions ?

[dah-HUB]

Hi,

Actually, I code apps in Laravel,
I wanted to test frankenphp locally; And if its Okay, move the Prod.

How I'm settings up things now :

• I create virtualhots in /etc/apache2/available-sites/ as this pattern : project name.customer name.local , Ex : crm.lestilleuls.local
• I also add those names to /etc/hosts
• All the the code is located in /var/www/html/ as /var/www/html/PHP version/customer name/project name/

Question 1 : How to manage multiple hosts (apps) in frankenphp ?

I slso use a script to switch PHP versions : 7.4 -> 8.1 -> 8.2 , by Enable/Disable Apache Modules (or services for FPM) + update-alternatives

Question 2 : How to manage PHP versions in frankenphp ?

Thanks for your Help

[dunglas]

FrankenPHP is just a custom build of Caddy, you can manage your virtual hosts as with a standard Caddy installation using site blocks: https://caddyserver.com/docs/caddyfile/concepts#addresses

Supporting multiple PHP installations in the same process is currently not supported. You'll have to start a different instance of FrankenPHP per PHP version.

[henderkes]

Well, kind of, you can also run multiple instances of php-fpm (like you currently do) and just replace Apache with FrankenPHP. Then use php_fastcgi for the applications that require a specific php version and serve all the modern ones with php_server.

That's what I do for one very very old forum website that doesn't run on 8.0+.

[SimJoSt]

Ok, that makes sense to me. Run all PHP 8.4(+) apps through FrankenPHP directly and then use the "old" method as a fallback for incompatible applications, until they are properly upgraded.
Sounds good for now.

[SimJoSt]

In https://github.com/php/frankenphp#standalone-binary it says that standalone binaries contain PHP 8.4 however, there is no mention of which PHP version is contained in the releases in dep packages, etc.
How can I check this reliably?
And what happens if a deb package update in the future moves to a version containing PHP 8.5, but my connected application is not ready for it yet. Will the package upgrade break the setup?

[henderkes]

You add the source list of the version you want.

curl -fsSL https://files.henderkes.com/install.sh | sudo sh -s 8.5
sudo apt install frankenphp
-> frankenphp with version 8.5

If you want php 8.2, use sudo sh -s 8.2

[henderkes]

The frankenphp docs will change soon too. Just waiting for someone to review the doc changes with my new repos.

The old debian repository will stay at version 8.4 for a few months, but then be deleted. It already prints a deprecation notice when you install or update.