Error due to multiple php versions on shared hosting

jahangir

Hi everyone,

The default version of php on my shared hosting environment is 7.0.32. I have the ability to chose any other version for my account in cpanel. I have changed the php version for my account to 7.1.22. The issue i am facing is when is run Composer create-project command in SSH, it detects the system php version and not the version of my account and therefore gives error I dont have the root access as its a shared hosting. here is the output of SSH:

[w********* letsdoca.com]$ php -v
PHP 7.1.22 (cli) (built: Sep 20 2018 08:34:27) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.1.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies
with the ionCube PHP Loader (enabled) + Intrusion Protection from ioncube24.com (unconfigured) v10.2.0, Copyright (c) 2002-2018, by ionCube Ltd.
[w********* letsdoca.com]$ composer create-project flarum/flarum . --stability=beta
Installing flarum/flarum (v0.1.0-beta.8.1)

Installing flarum/flarum (v0.1.0-beta.8.1): Loading from cache
Created project in .
Loading composer repositories with package information
Updating dependencies (including require-dev)
Your requirements could not be resolved to an installable set of packages.

Problem 1
- flarum/core v0.1.0-beta.8.1 requires php >=7.1 -> your PHP version (7.0.32) does not satisfy that requirement.
- flarum/core v0.1.0-beta.8 requires php >=7.1 -> your PHP version (7.0.32) does not satisfy that requirement.
- flarum/statistics v0.1.0-beta.8 requires flarum/core ^0.1.0-beta.8 -> satisfiable by flarum/core[v0.1.0-beta.8, v0.1.0-beta.8.1].
- Installation request for flarum/statistics ^0.1.0 -> satisfiable by flarum/statistics[v0.1.0-beta.8].

[w********* letsdoca.com]$

Is there a workaround for this?

Staszek

In ssh console you may have different versions of php as well. You typed php -v and this is default one (probably because you have chosen it in configuration of hosting), but composer itself probably runs on different one.
How exactly you run composer command? I mean from where composer knows which version to use? You could set it by yourself in .bash_aliases file, or more probably, your provider set it for you.
You can try installing composer yourself (if you haven't) and launching it with command php composer instead of just composer

jahangir

Staszek The default php version for composer is 7.0.32. I changed this to 7.1 using this command.

alias php=/opt/php71/bin/php (this is the path for php 7.1)

This changes the php version of composer which is shown using php -v command. However, the flarum installation calls php of the system which is 7.0 and not that of the composer. Remember i am running a shared hosting so i dont think i can install composer myself.

I also tried .bash_aliases and have the same results.

The issue is i want flarum installation to call php of my composer and not the system default, if this could be possible.

Staszek

You always can install Composer to your Flarum directory, even in shared hosting. Just do what is written in Composer docs. Then you can use your modified php command.

jahangir

Staszek I did successfully install composer in flarum directory. However i am still facing the same issue. The installation calls for the system php version and not the composer php version and therefore generates problem. Not sure how to bypass this.

Broxi

As far as I remember (just not sure), some systems are installing aliases, so you may use php7.1 -v or php5.6 -v in ssh to select the version. php in general may be an alias to the latest version. You may as well use the full path /usr/bin/php7.1.

Staszek

jahangir I suppose you didn't just run composer <command> hoping it will launch your version of composer, but you did php composer.phar <command>? 😉 If yes, try php7.2 composer.phar <command>. Instead of php7.2 part you may have to use some other alias of php 7.2 command. You can also try to use full path: /opt/php71/bin/php composer.phar <command>, or some other full path, like Broxi suggested.

Staszek

php7.1 -v or php5.6 -v just prints version, not selects it. Yes, there are usually many aliases for different purposes. OP uses one of them, and he created alias php himself.

Broxi

Staszek of course -v displays the version. Omit -v and add your php-script filename instead

jahangir

Update: after trying a number of solutions, there was a simple trick which helped me avoid php version check and install flarum:

i used

--ignore-platform-reqs

at the end of my command and it simply ignored calling php version check and installed the application successfully. Since my hosting environment already has php 7.1, so the application is running smoothly. Thanks a lot everyone for the help. I will keep updating if i face any further issue.

update: i tried installing multiple extensions, and i needed same --ignore-platform-reqs at the end of each command to be able to install the extension, otherwise it would give php version error.

Pherinos

On my server I have multiple versions of PHP from 5 to 7.2, default is 7.0.
For using Flarum I use this medthod method :

cga@serveur:~$ which php
/usr/bin/php
cga@serveur:~$ php -v
PHP 7.0.32-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 (cli) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) 1997-2017 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.0.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2017 Zend Technologies
    with the ionCube PHP Loader (enabled) + Intrusion Protection from ioncube24.com (unconfigured) v10.0.3, Copyright (c) 2002-2017, by ionCube Ltd.
    with Zend OPcache v7.0.32-0ubuntu0.16.04.1, Copyright (c) 1999-2017, by Zend Technologies

So I change the $PATH environment variable :

cga@serveur:~$ export PATH=/opt/plesk/php/7.1/bin:${PATH}
cga@serveur:~$ which php
/opt/plesk/php/7.1/bin/php
cga@serveur:~$ php -v
PHP 7.1.26 (cli) (built: Jan 11 2019 12:01:51) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.1.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies
    with the ionCube PHP Loader (enabled) + Intrusion Protection from ioncube24.com (unconfigured) v10.2.1, Copyright (c) 2002-2018, by ionCube Ltd.
    with Zend OPcache v7.1.26, Copyright (c) 1999-2018, by Zend Technologies
cga@serveur:~$

Hope this method helps you.
Regards
Sorry for my english... I'm french

jahangir

Pherinos i already tried the same but it didnt work for me because flarum installation calls the php of the system and not the specific location. Since, i am using a shared hosting, the system default php version is 7.0 which was creating the issue

Pherinos

jahangir I see, on a shared hosting you are dependent on the subscription. I'm with a dedicated physical server and I can choose, with Plesk, which PHP engine Apache will use. It's only with SSH login where I'm dependant of the default PHP version. If there is multiple PHP versions on your shared hosting, have you any administrative interface to setup the PHP version to use with the web server ?

jordanjay29

jahangir You may need to contact your host to get help with how to set the correct php version for Flarum to use. At minimum, you need PHP 7.1+ to work in the folder Flarum is installed in, it's also best if you can access the PHP 7.1+ executable to use in CLI for composer commands.

If you can't set the latter, you can use --ignore-platform-reqs to force Composer commands on a server where the terminal versions are in conflict with the webserver versions. But only do this if you're absolutely certain, because it will ignore checks for all requirements not just php.

jahangir

Pherinos Yes i can choose php version from cpannel for my hosting but again that does not change the system php version ( as i have shared hosting). However, what i did was, i changed the default php version of my hosting from cpanel, then i ran the flarum installation and used "--ignore-platform-reqs" at the end of my commands and it worked. The application is running smoothly without any issues.

jahangir

jordanjay29 yes i did use the "--ignore-platform-reqs" and it has installed successfully and working without any issues. I did contact my hosting provider, they helped me in selecting the relevant version of php but what i understand is flarum installation calls for the php version of the system and not your installation folder which was creating issues in installation. Ignoring the php version, installation was successful and running smoothly as i have already selected php 7.1 as default from cpanel. This default cannot be set for the whole system as it is a shared host and the system default is php 7.0

Pherinos

jahangir Yes, sometimes it's necessary to force some options, and it's a good thing that Flarum Team realize that ! Most programs on the web are developed for a version and do not take into account backward compatibility.

Good news, enjoy ! 😃

jordanjay29

jahangir Glad you got it working! Can we mark this solved, then?