Using Valet with php version installed via MacPorts

[davidparedes]

Hello,

I have an old MacBook Pro running Catalina OS so Homebrew doesn't support my upgrade from php 8.0 to php 8.1. I managed to install php 8.1 using MacPorts instead of Homebrew:

php -v 

PHP 8.1.24 (cli) (built: Oct  2 2023 08:40:04) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.1.24, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v8.1.24, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

Is there anyway I can use Valet with this php version? When I try to use it Valet says it's not installed and it tries to install it again via Homebrew:

valet use php81 

Installing [email protected]...
[[email protected]] is not installed, installing it now via Brew... 🍻

Thank you!

[drbyte]

Strictly speaking, no: there's no awareness of MacPort's PHP binaries in Valet.

But, I'm exploring it ... for the same reasons you mention.

The problem is not so much having a command-line PHP binary via MacPorts ... because you can install it and just add it to your PATH. That takes only a minute to do.
The problem is actually in having php-fpm available and configurable, for Valet to recognize and link up properly.

[drbyte]

Bandaging PHP versions for older Mac's: using MacPorts

TO BE CLEAR: THIS IS OFFICIALLY UNSUPPORTED AT THIS TIME. YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY.

1. Install MacPorts via their website.

   Add the MacPorts binaries path to your PATH via your ~/.zshrc or equivalent file so they can be used via the command-line:

   export PATH="/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:$PATH"

2. Install PHP and PHP-FPM for a specific version, using this command (all on one line):

    sudo port install php82 php82-calendar php82-curl php82-dba php82-exif php82-ffi php82-fpm php82-ftp \
      php82-gd php82-gettext php82-gmp php82-iconv php82-intl php82-mbstring php82-mysql php82-opcache \
      php82-openssl php82-pcntl php82-posix php82-pspell php82-soap php82-sockets php82-sodium php82-sqlite \
      php82-tidy php82-xsl php82-zip

(You may have reply Yes to several prompts.) (You can add/remove related extensions depending on your needs.)

3. Configuration files for CLI:

   The base php.ini may not be present, so copy the dev version over.
   Make a conf.d folder.
   Then at the end of the php.ini add the directive to load all conf.d/*.conf files.
   Then copy the valet stub for memory limits to the conf.d dir.
   The following will do those for you:

    sudo cp -n /opt/local/etc/php82/php.ini-development /opt/local/etc/php82/php.ini
    sudo mkdir -p /opt/local/etc/php82/conf.d
    echo ';' | sudo tee -a /opt/local/etc/php82/php.ini
    echo 'include=/opt/local/etc/php82/conf.d/*.conf' | sudo tee -a /opt/local/etc/php82/php.ini
    echo ';' | sudo tee -a /opt/local/etc/php82/php.ini
    sudo cp -n ~/.composer/vendor/laravel/valet/cli/stubs/php-memory-limits.ini /opt/local/etc/php82/conf.d/php-memory-limits.ini

4. Configuration files for PHP-FPM:

   It needs both the php-fpm.conf file and the valet-fpm.conf files put in place. The following will copy the stubs over and apply configuration updates:

    sudo cp -n /opt/local/etc/php82/php-fpm.conf.default /opt/local/etc/php82/php-fpm.conf
    sudo cp -n ~/.composer/vendor/laravel/valet/cli/stubs/etc-phpfpm-valet.conf /opt/local/etc/php82/php-fpm.d/valet-fpm.conf
    sudo sed -i '' "s#VALET_USER#"$USER"#" /opt/local/etc/php82/php-fpm.d/valet-fpm.conf
    sudo sed -i '' "s#VALET_HOME_PATH#"/Users/$USER"/.config/valet#" /opt/local/etc/php82/php-fpm.d/valet-fpm.conf
    sudo sed -i '' "s#valet.sock#valet82.sock#" /opt/local/etc/php82/php-fpm.d/valet-fpm.conf

5. Start PHP-FPM:

   sudo port load php82-fpm

(You should see a new empty file named valet82.sock in your ~/.config/valet directory)

6. If you haven't already, have Valet make a site config for your project, by running valet secure in your project directory. (This will set it up for https by creating a site-specific Nginx config file ... which we need in order to link it to a specific PHP-FPM version.)

7. Edit that Valet config in ~/.config/valet/Nginx (ie: foo.test in that directory)

   Where it mentions valet.sock change it to valet82.sock instead.

   eg: fastcgi_pass "unix:/Users/USERNAME/.config/valet/valet82.sock";

8. Restart Nginx via Valet:

   valet restart nginx

9. Visit your project via https://foo.test/ in your browser. If your foo.test app displays PHP versions, it should show the new PHP version you've linked it to via the valet82.sock file.
   If you get a 502 error then either the foo.test Nginx config isn't pointing to the valet82.sock file or the valet82.sock file doesn't exist because that PHP-FPM version isn't running ... which would be caused by those php config files being missing, hence the elaborate config instructions above ... or just the service needs to be started with sudo port load php82-fpm.

There's a small possibility that you might need to run sudo port load php82-fpm again after a reboot. If that is a repeated problem, (sudo) edit the /opt/local/etc/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.php82-fpm/org.macports.php82-fpm.plist file and replace the Disabled key's value from <true/> to <false/>.

NOTES:

• You can't use Valet's "PHP" commands to control any of the MacPorts PHP versions.
• If you need to also use another PHP version, repeat ALL the steps above, for that different version (replacing "82" with "83" for example)
• You CAN leave multiple FPM versions set up to run (they WILL take up RAM though), and thus you can have different sites using different PHP versions simultaneously.

If Nginx gives a 502 error, check its logs at ~/.config/valet/Log/nginx-error.log

PHP CLI (Command-Line)

Remember: when you call artisan commands and especially when you call composer commands, you want them to use the version of PHP your project is expecting, else you'll build outdated composer.lock files (well, that may not matter if you're not publishing your lock file to git or as part of your CI or deployment processes).

One-time php commands

For one-off situations, if you need a specific PHP version on command-line, use php82 instead of php.

Set the default php command-line version to an installed MacPorts version

To set the default PHP version for your command-line:

• First disconnect Homebrew's PHP on the command-line. (Valet will still say "unable to determine PHP version, or PHP is not installed")

  brew unlink [email protected]

• Then activate the desired MacPorts version of PHP for command-line:

  sudo port select --set php php82

Related commands:
port select --list php - shows PHP versions available on your machine
port select --summary - shows currently linked versions of all MacPorts ports
sudo port select --set php php82 -- sets php 8.2 to be actively linked (instead of homebrew's linked version) for CLI

which php and type php will show which php binary is gonna be called when running php on the CLI
which -a php will show all php binaries in all paths on your PATH, in the order in which the lookup will pick one (picks first one)

[drbyte]

If it created the valet82.sock file then the PHP-FPM service is running.
So you'll need to look in the nginx error log file to find out why the 502 was triggered...

Look at:
/Users/USERNAME/.config/valet/Log/nginx-error.log

[davidparedes]

I realized I still had an old Homebrew PHP version (7.4) so I linked it, I replaced valet.sock with valet82.sock in mysite.test file (it had been automatically changed back to valet.sock, that's why I had to do it again now) and it works! My site is up and running again, and now with php 8.2. Thank you so much! You saved my day/week :)

[drbyte]

Yay! And good call on re-linking the 7.4. That should be fine. If at some point you "really" need 8.0 you can probably unlink homebrew and then symlink the macport binary to php instead.

ya, what you're working with now is a little fragile, but if your requirements don't change much you should be stable for awhile this way.

Remember when you call artisan commands and especially when you call composer commands, to use the php82 instead of php else you'll build outdated composer.lock files (well, that may not matter if you're not publishing your lock file to git or as part of your CI or deployment processes).

[drbyte]

Update about the CLI stuff I mentioned above:

I think if you brew unlink [email protected] Valet will probably still be fine because it "has" a PHP version, even if not actively symlinked.

And then run sudo port select --set php php82 your php binary will be symlinked so that your CLI will be using 8.2.

Related commands:
port select --list php - shows PHP versions available
port select --summary - shows currently linked versions of all MacPorts ports
sudo port select --set php php82 -- sets php 8.2 to be actively linked (instead of homebrew's linked version) for CLI

which php and type php will show which php binary is gonna be called when running php on the CLI
which -a php will show all php binaries in all paths on your PATH, in the order in which the lookup will pick one (picks first one)

[davidparedes]

Hello again,

I confirm I unlinked php 7.4 and it still works. I already had set my CLI php to 8.2, the "only" missing thing was being able to use it with Valet.

Thank you very much for your help!

[zaghadon]

I suggest using Mac ports by default to manage valet dependencies. It's way faster than Homebrew and Supports way more Devices.