Update min required PHP version to 7.3 #2168

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OVERLORD · 2026-02-05T03:11:23+03:00

OVERLORD commented

2026-02-05 03:11:23 +03:00

Originally created by @ssddanbrown on GitHub (Mar 20, 2021).

Originally assigned to: @ssddanbrown on GitHub.

Very much related to #2388 (Upgrade to support PHP8), Specifically my comments here.

I was initially looking to jump direct to 7.4 but that would mean only php7.4 would be support on previous and next releases, Plus php7.3 is still on security support, so we'll stick with it to provide a more gradual change. This would just be dropping php7.2. We'll drop 7.3 next year unless there's a specific reason to drop it sooner.

Will update this with more specific steps soon, but we should probably recommend jumping direct to PHP8 for future compatibility and longevity. We'll need to provide scripts for people on relevant LTS systems we support and ensure popular community maintained hosting/docker projects are ready.

Systems PHP Versions

Ubuntu 16.04 (Almost End of life)
- php7.0 native, Scripts been installing php7.4 and we provided upgrade instructions for that on previous version change.
Ubuntu 18.04
- php7.2 native, script still installing php7.2. Will need to support.
Ubuntu 20.04
- php7.4 native, fine to leave as-is.
CentOS 7 (Don't link to this in docs but we have it in the scripts repo)
- php5.4 native, Script uses remi-php73, Should be fine to leave as-is for now.
Linuxserver.io (Docker)
- Checking inside container reports as PHP 7.3.27. Looks like they're prepared to move that up anyway.
Solidnerd (Docker)
- Based on `php:7.4-apache-buster, No update needed.
Home Assistant Addon
- Based on PHP 7.4.15, Not update needed.

Originally created by @ssddanbrown on GitHub (Mar 20, 2021). Originally assigned to: @ssddanbrown on GitHub. Very much related to #2388 (Upgrade to support PHP8), Specifically [my comments here](https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack/issues/2388#issuecomment-788321588). I was initially looking to jump direct to 7.4 but that would mean only php7.4 would be support on previous and next releases, Plus php7.3 is still on security support, so we'll stick with it to provide a more gradual change. This would just be dropping php7.2. We'll drop 7.3 next year unless there's a specific reason to drop it sooner. Will update this with more specific steps soon, but we should probably recommend jumping direct to PHP8 for future compatibility and longevity. We'll need to provide scripts for people on relevant LTS systems we support and ensure popular community maintained hosting/docker projects are ready. ### Systems PHP Versions - Ubuntu 16.04 (Almost End of life) - php7.0 native, Scripts been installing php7.4 and we provided upgrade instructions for that on previous version change. - Ubuntu 18.04 - php7.2 native, script still installing php7.2. Will need to support. - Ubuntu 20.04 - php7.4 native, fine to leave as-is. - CentOS 7 (Don't link to this in docs but we have it in the scripts repo) - php5.4 native, Script uses remi-php73, Should be fine to leave as-is for now. - Linuxserver.io (Docker) - Checking inside container reports as PHP 7.3.27. Looks like they're prepared to move that up anyway. - Solidnerd (Docker) - Based on `php:7.4-apache-buster, No update needed. - Home Assistant Addon - Based on `PHP 7.4.15`, Not update needed.

OVERLORD added the 🔧 Maintenance 📖 Docs Update 🏭 Back-End labels 2026-02-05 03:11:23 +03:00

OVERLORD closed this issue

2026-02-05 03:11:29 +03:00

OVERLORD commented

2026-02-05 03:11:35 +03:00

@ssddanbrown commented on GitHub (Mar 20, 2021):

Main app work now done in 829fecd338, 0310b8614e, 8e5067ee91 & c548c06086.

@ssddanbrown commented on GitHub (Mar 20, 2021): Main app work now done in 829fecd33895ed845e2a4d0806e7623b376abe75, 0310b8614e550502c10ec86408e848ac0d7f13ba, 8e5067ee91587540dc26ed65e3597f539893f565 & c548c060864750ac6620c85c3de4732413910754.

OVERLORD commented

2026-02-05 03:11:37 +03:00

@ssddanbrown commented on GitHub (Mar 21, 2021):

The following works to update a fresh script-installed Ubuntu 18.04 instance to php8:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y php8.0 php8.0-fpm php8.0-curl php8.0-mbstring php8.0-ldap php8.0-xml php8.0-zip php8.0-gd php8.0-mysql libapache2-mod-php8.0
sudo a2dismod php7.2
sudo a2enmod php8.0
systemctl restart apache2

That's to provide old script users on update. Have tested in a VM. For the exiting script, we'll move that up to php7.4 now to allow some cross-over.

@ssddanbrown commented on GitHub (Mar 21, 2021): The following works to update a fresh script-installed Ubuntu 18.04 instance to php8: ```bash sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php sudo apt update sudo apt install -y php8.0 php8.0-fpm php8.0-curl php8.0-mbstring php8.0-ldap php8.0-xml php8.0-zip php8.0-gd php8.0-mysql libapache2-mod-php8.0 sudo a2dismod php7.2 sudo a2enmod php8.0 systemctl restart apache2 ``` That's to provide old script users on update. Have tested in a VM. For the exiting script, we'll move that up to php7.4 now to allow some cross-over.

OVERLORD commented

2026-02-05 03:11:40 +03:00

@ssddanbrown commented on GitHub (Mar 22, 2021):

Ubuntu 18.04 install script now updated in 01c971cb1a

All that's left to do is release documentation using the above so will close this off.

@ssddanbrown commented on GitHub (Mar 22, 2021): Ubuntu 18.04 install script now updated in https://github.com/BookStackApp/devops/commit/01c971cb1a670c69481003edc0add164cd32b344 All that's left to do is release documentation using the above so will close this off.

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Reference: starred/BookStack#2168