How to Install PHP 5.6 on Rocky Linux 9

PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a popular server-side scripting language widely used in web development. PHP 5.6 offers multiple performance benefits, integrates with different and supports legacy PHP extensions required by some dynamic applications. It's highly extensible and lets you build dynamic websites, process data, and integrate PHP 5.6 with databases like MySQL, Valkey, and PostgreSQL using modules.

This article explains how to install PHP 5.6 on Rocky Linux 9. While PHP 5.6 reached its end-of-life, multiple applications still depend on it and require specific modules installed on your system. You will install PHP 5.6 on your Rocky Linux 9 instance and configure PHP-FPM to integrate it with your backend applications.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you need to:

• Have access to a Rocky Linux 9 instance as a non-root user with sudo privileges

Install Required PHP 5.6 Dependencies

PHP 5.6 is not available in the default package repositories and thirdy party sources on Rocky Linux 9. PHP 5.6 requires OpenSSL 1.0.2 to run on Rocky Linux. Follow the steps below to install all required dependencies and install PHP 5.6 from source code.

1. Verify the default OpenSSL version.

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   $ openssl --version

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   Your output should be similar to the one below.

   OpenSSL 3.2.2 4 Jun 2024 (Library: OpenSSL 3.2.2 4 Jun 2024)

2. Update the DNF package index.

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   $ sudo dnf update -y

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3. Install all required dependency packages.

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   $ sudo dnf install -y gcc gcc-c++ make bison autoconf libxml2-devel bzip2-devel curl-devel libjpeg-devel libpng-devel libXpm-devel freetype-devel gmp-devel  libmcrypt-devel readline-devel libxslt-devel libicu-devel libxml2-devel bzip2-devel libcurl-devel libjpeg-devel libpng-devel freetype-devel libxslt-devel perl-core zlib-devel

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   The above command installs all the required PHP 5.6 and OpenSSL dependency packages.

4. Navigate to the /usr/local/src directory.

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   $ cd /usr/local/src

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5. Download the OpenSSL 1.0.2 archive.

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   $ sudo wget https://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-1.0.2u.tar.gz

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6. Extract all files from the downloaded OpenSSL archive.

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   $ sudo tar -xvzf openssl-1.0.2u.tar.gz

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7. Switch to the extracted OpenSSL directory.

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   $ cd openssl-1.0.2u

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8. Run the OpenSSL configuration script using ./config.

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   $ sudo ./config --prefix=/usr/local/openssl-1.0.2 --openssldir=/usr/local/openssl-1.0.2 shared zlib

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9. Compile the OpenSSL source code.

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   $ sudo make -j$(nproc)

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10. Install the compiled OpenSSL binaries.

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    $ sudo make install

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11. Add the OpenSSL environment variables to your .bashrc configuration.

    • Add the OpenSSL library path to the linker flags

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      $ echo 'export LDFLAGS="-Wl,-rpath,/usr/local/openssl-1.0.2/lib"' >> ~/.bashrc

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    • Add the OpenSSL include path to the compiler flags.

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      $ echo 'export CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/openssl-1.0.2/include"' >> ~/.bashrc

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    • Add the OpenSSL pkg-config path.

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      $ echo 'export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/usr/local/openssl-1.0.2/lib/pkgconfig"' >> ~/.bashrc

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    • Add the OpenSSL binary path to your system PATH.

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      $ echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/openssl-1.0.2/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

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12. Apply the bashrc environment configuration changes.

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    $ source ~/.bashrc

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13. View the active OpenSSL version and verify that it's OpenSSL 1.0.2u.

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    $ openssl version -a

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    Output:

    OpenSSL 1.0.2u  20 Dec 2019
    built on: reproducible build, date unspecified
    platform: linux-x86_64
    .................................

Compile and Install PHP 5.6 from Source Code on Rocky Linux 9

Follow the steps below to compile and install PHP 5.6 from source code on your Rocky Linux 9 instance.

1. Navigate to the /usr/local/src directory.

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   $ cd /usr/local/src

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2. Visit the PHP 5 archives page, note and download your target PHP 5.6 version using wget. For example, run the following command to download the PHP 5.6.40 version.

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   $ sudo wget https://museum.php.net/php5/php-5.6.40.tar.gz

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3. Extract files from the PHP 5.6 archive.

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   $ sudo tar -xzf php-5.6.40.tar.gz

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4. Switch to the extracted PHP 5.6 directory.

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   $ cd php-5.6.40

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5. Configure the PHP 5.6 build with all required options, including the OpenSSL path and PHP extensions like mysql.

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   $ sudo ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/php-5.6.40 --with-openssl=/usr/local/openssl-1.0.2 --enable-mbstring --with-pdo-mysql --with-mysqli --enable-fpm --with-openssl=/usr/local/openssl-1.0.2

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   The above command configures the PHP 5.6 build information with /usr/local as the target installation directory, specifies the PHP extensions to install and enables the OpenSSL 1.0.2 version you installed earlier. The configuration process may take between 3 to 5 minutes to complete, re-install all required dependency packages if the configuration process returns any errors.

6. Compile the PHP 5.6 source code.

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   $ sudo make -j$(nproc)

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   The compilation process may take between 5 to 8 minutes to complete depending on the configured PHP 5.6 extensions for installation. Reconfigure the PHP 5.6 build if the compilation fails. Your output should be similar to the one below when successful.

   Generating phar.php
   Generating phar.phar
   PEAR package PHP_Archive not installed: generated phar will require PHP's phar extension be enabled.
   invertedregexiterator.inc
   directorytreeiterator.inc
   pharcommand.inc
   directorygraphiterator.inc
   clicommand.inc
   phar.inc
   
   Build complete.
   Don't forget to run 'make test'.

7. Install PHP 5.6 from the compiled binaries.

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   $ sudo make install

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   Your output should be similar to the one below when the installation is successful.

   Installing shared extensions:     /usr/local/php-5.6.40/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20131226/
   Installing PHP CLI binary:        /usr/local/php-5.6.40/bin/
   Installing PHP CLI man page:      /usr/local/php-5.6.40/php/man/man1/
   Installing PHP FPM binary:        /usr/local/php-5.6.40/sbin/
   ......................................................
   Wrote PEAR system config file at: /usr/local/php-5.6.40/etc/pear.conf
   You may want to add: /usr/local/php-5.6.40/lib/php to your php.ini include_path
   /usr/local/src/php-5.6.40/build/shtool install -c ext/phar/phar.phar /usr/local/php-5.6.40/bin
   ln -s -f phar.phar /usr/local/php-5.6.40/bin/phar
   Installing PDO headers:           /usr/local/php-5.6.40/include/php/ext/pdo/

8. Verify the installed PHP version.

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   $ /usr/local/php-5.6.40/bin/php -v

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   Output:

   PHP 5.6.40 (cli) (built: Mar 19 2025 20:03:18)
   Copyright (c) 1997-2016 The PHP Group
   Zend Engine v2.6.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2016 Zend Technologies

Install and Configure PHP 5.6 FPM

PHP-FPM is available in the PHP 5.6 source code and improves PHP performance by efficiently managing processes and PHP requests. Follow the steps below to install PHP 5.6 FPM and configure it as a system service to run on your Rocky Linux 9 instance.

1. Copy the PHP 5.6 production configuration to the installation directory.

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   $ sudo cp /usr/local/src/php-5.6.40/php.ini-production /usr/local/php-5.6.40/lib/php.ini

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2. Copy the PHP 5.6 configuration template to the installation directory.

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   $ sudo cp sapi/fpm/php-fpm.conf.in /usr/local/php-5.6.40/etc/php-fpm.conf

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3. Create a new /etc/php-fpm.d PHP FPM directory to store FPM pool configurations.

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   $ sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/php-5.6.40/etc/php-fpm.d

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4. Copy the default FPM pool configuration to PHP-FPM directory.

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   $ sudo cp sapi/fpm/www.conf.in /usr/local/php-5.6.40/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf

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5. Add PHP 5.6 FPM path to your system PATH.

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   $ echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/php-5.6.40/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

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6. Reload your shell configuration to apply the changes.

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   $ source ~/.bashrc

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7. Create a new www-data dedicated PHP-FPM user.

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   $ sudo useradd -r -s /sbin/nologin www-data

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8. Open the /usr/local/php-5.6.40/etc/php-fpm.conf configuration using a text editor such as nano.

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   $ sudo nano /usr/local/php-5.6.40/etc/php-fpm.conf

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   • Find the pid directive, remove the ; to uncomment and change the default run/php-fpm.pid to /run/php56-fpm/php56-fpm.pid.

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     pid = /run/php56-fpm/php56-fpm.pid

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   • Find the user directive and change the default @php_fpm_user@ value to www-data.

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     user = www-data

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   • Find the group directive and change the default @php_fpm_group@ value to www-data.

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     group = www-data

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     Save and close the file.

9. Open the /usr/local/php-5.6.40/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf default pool configuration.

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   $ sudo nano /usr/local/php-5.6.40/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf

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   • Find the user directive and change the default @php-fpmuser@ value to www-data.

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     user = www-data

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   • Find the group directive and change the default @php-fpmgroup@ value to www-data.

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     group = www-data

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   • Find the listen directive and verify that it's set to 127.0.0.1:9000.

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     listen = 127.0.0.1:9000

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   • Find the listen.owner directive, uncomment it and change the default @php-fpmuser@ value to www-data.

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     listen.owner = www-data

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   • Find the listen.group directive, uncomment it and change the default @php-fpmgroup@ value to www-data.

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     listen.group = www-data

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   • Find the listen.mode directive, uncomment it and verify that it's set 0660.

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     listen.mode = 0660

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     Save and close the file.

     The above pool configurations enable PHP 5.6 FPM to listen for connections on the localhost port 9000 and read or write files using the www-data user you created earlier.

10. Create the /run/php56-fpm runtime directory to store the PHP-FPM PID files.

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    $ sudo mkdir -p /run/php56-fpm

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11. Grant the www-data user ownership privileges to the /run/php56-fpm directory.

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    $ sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /run/php56-fpm

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12. Change the /run/php56-fpm directory permissions mode to 755 to grant the www-data user full read, write, execute privileges.

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    $ sudo chmod 755 /run/php56-fpm

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13. Create a new /usr/local/php-5.6.40/var/log directory to store the PHP 5.6 log files.

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    $ sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/php-5.6.40/var/log

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14. Grant the www-data ownership privileges to the /usr/local/php-5.6.40/var/log directory.

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    $ sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /usr/local/php-5.6.40/var/log

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15. Change the /usr/local/php-5.6.40/var/log permissions mode to 755 to grant the www-data full privileges to all log files.

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    $ sudo chmod -R 755 /usr/local/php-5.6.40/var/log

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16. Test the PHP FPM configuration for errors.

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    $ sudo /usr/local/php-5.6.40/sbin/php-fpm -t

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    Output:

    [18-Apr-2025 20:34:37] NOTICE: configuration file /usr/local/php-5.6.40/etc/php-fpm.conf test is successful

Configure PHP 5.6 FPM as a System Service

Follow the steps below to create a new system service for PHP 5.6 FPM and configure it to start at boot.

1. Create a new php56-fpm.service systemd service configuration file.

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   $ sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/php56-fpm.service

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2. Add the following configurations to the php56-fpm.service file.

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   [Unit]
   Description=PHP 5.6 FastCGI Process Manager
   After=network.target
   
   [Service]
   Type=simple
   ExecStart=/usr/local/php-5.6.40/sbin/php-fpm --nodaemonize --fpm-config /usr/local/php-5.6.40/etc/php-fpm.conf
   ExecReload=/bin/kill -USR2 $MAINPID
   Restart=always
   PrivateTmp=true
   User=www-data
   Group=www-data
   WorkingDirectory=/usr/local/php-5.6.40
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target

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   Save and close the file.

   The above system service configuration enables PHP 5.6 to run as a system service using the www-data user and group. It uses the /usr/local/php-5.6.40 working directory and runs PHP-FPM in non-daemon mode, allowing you to control all PHP processes.

3. Reload Systemd to apply the configuration changes.

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   $ sudo systemctl daemon-reload

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4. Enable the PHP FPM service to start at boot.

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   $ sudo systemctl enable php56-fpm

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5. Start the PHP FPM service.

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   $ sudo systemctl start php56-fpm

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6. View the PHP FPM service status and verify that it's running.

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   $ sudo systemctl status php56-fpm

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   Output:

   ● php56-fpm.service - PHP 5.6 FastCGI Process Manager
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/php56-fpm.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2025-03-19 20:28:17 UTC; 19s ago
   Main PID: 223702 (php-fpm)
      Tasks: 3 (limit: 23116)
     Memory: 2.5M
        CPU: 32ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/php56-fpm.service
             ├─223702 "php-fpm: master process (/usr/local/php-5.6.40/etc/php-fpm.conf)"
             ├─223703 "php-fpm: pool www"
             └─223704 "php-fpm: pool www"

   The PHP FPM is active and runing based on the active (running) prompt in the above output.

Test and Use PHP 5.6 on Rocky Linux 9

Follow the steps below to test and use PHP 5.6 on your Rocky Linux 9 instance.

1. Check the active PHP version and verify that it's PHP 5.6

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   $ php --version

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   Output:

   PHP 5.6.40 (cli) (built: Apr 18 2025 14:44:08) 
   Copyright (c) 1997-2016 The PHP Group
   Zend Engine v2.6.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2016 Zend Technologies

2. Create a new app.php file in your working directory.

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   $ sudo nano app.php

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3. Add the following PHP code to the file.

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   <?php
   
   echo "Greetings from Vultr! \n";
   
   ?>

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   Save and close the file.

4. Execute the app.php script with PHP.

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   $ php app.php

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   Output:

   Greetings from Vultr!

Test PHP 5.6 with a Web Server

PHP 5.6 FPM enables you to integrate PHP with web server applications such as Nginx and Apache. Follow the steps below to install and configure Nginx to process dynamic application requests using PHP FPM.

1. Create a domain A record pointing to your Rocky Linux 9 instance's public IP address.

2. Install Nginx if it's not installed.

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   $ sudo dnf install -y nginx

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3. Start the Nginx service.

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   $ sudo systemctl start nginx

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4. View the Nginx service status and verify that it's running.

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   $ sudo systemctl status nginx

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   Output:

   ● nginx.service - The nginx HTTP and reverse proxy server
        Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
        Active: active (running) since Fri 2025-04-18 20:29:03 UTC; 14s ago
       Process: 176949 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/rm -f /run/nginx.pid (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
       Process: 176950 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/nginx -t (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
       Process: 176951 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nginx (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
      Main PID: 176952 (nginx)
         Tasks: 2 (limit: 11059)
        Memory: 2.0M
           CPU: 26ms
        CGroup: /system.slice/nginx.service
                ├─176952 "nginx: master process /usr/sbin/nginx"
                └─176953 "nginx: worker process"

5. Create a new app.example.conf Nginx virtual host configuration.

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   $ sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/app.example.conf

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6. Add the following configurations to the file. Replace app.example.com with your actual domain.

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   server {
       listen 80;
       server_name app.example.com;
       root /var/www/app.example.com;
   
       index index.php index.html index.htm;
   
       location ~ \.php$ {
           include fastcgi_params;
           fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
           fastcgi_index index.php;
           fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
       }
   }

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   Save and close the file.

   The above Nginx configuration listens for HTTP connection requests using your app.example.com domain and forwards all PHP requests to the PHP FPM localhost port 9000.

7. Test the Nginx configuration for errors.

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   $ sudo nginx -t

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   Output:

   nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
   nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

8. Restart Nginx to apply the configuration changes.

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   $ sudo systemctl restart nginx

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9. Create the app.example.com virtual host web root directory.

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   $ sudo mkdir -p /var/www/app.example.com

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10. Create a new info.php file in the /var/www/app.example.com directory.

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    $ sudo nano /var/www/app.example.com/info.php

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11. Add the following PHP code to the info.php file.

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    <?php 
    
    phpinfo();
    
    ?>

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    Save and close the file.

    The above configuration displays the full PHP information page when accessed in a web browser.

12. Configure SELinux to enable Nginx to connect to the PHP FPM network socket.

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    $ sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect 1

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13. Allow HTTP traffic through the default firewall configuration.

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    $ sudo firewall-cmd --add-service=http --permanent

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14. Reload Firewalld to apply the firewall configuration changes.

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    $ sudo firewall-cmd --reload

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15. Restart PHP 5.6 FPM.

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    $ sudo systemctl restart php56-fpm

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16. Restart Nginx.

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    $ sudo service nginx restart

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17. Visit your app.example.com domain in a web browser such as Chrome and verify the full PHP 5.6 information page displays.

    http://app.example.com

    

    Warning

    PHP 5.6 reached its end-of-life and lacks security updates. Use PHP 5.6 only for legacy applications that cannot be upgraded.

Conclusion

You have installed PHP 5.6 and PHP-FPM on Rocky Linux 9. You can build and serve dynamic web applications with PHP 5.6 on your instanc, ensuring compatibility with legacy frameworks. Due to security risks associated with old PHP versions, consider migrating to a newer supported PHP version to run modern applications. For more information and options, visit the PHP documentation.