Unable to get mcrypt working

Hielkio

Hi folks,

I wanted to tryout the extensibility of Flarum, but I get stuck in not getting mcrypt loading correctly. I did everything as shown in the tutorial / documentation, and beyond that I followed a couple of tutorials to get it working, but no luck so far. This is the error log when I look at the installed PHP-modules:

php -m PHP Warning: PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/local/php/extensions/mcrypt.so' (tried: /usr/local/php/extensions/mcrypt.so (/usr/local/php/extensions/mcrypt.so: invalid ELF header), /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20180731//usr/local/php/extensions/mcrypt.so.so (/usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20180731//usr/local/php/extensions/mcrypt.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)) in Unknown on line 0 PHP Warning: PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library 'mcrypt.so' (tried: /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20180731/mcrypt.so (/usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20180731/mcrypt.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory), /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20180731/mcrypt.so.so (/usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20180731/mcrypt.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)) in Unknown on line 0
The first error is after I manually downloaded a single file called mcrypt.so and moved this to /usr/local/php/extensions/ + gave it the correct permissions.

Anyone who could tell me how to solve this problem?

[EDIT]
Maybe this helps... what I see in PHPinfo

luceos

I assume this is *nix?

Have you tried sudo apt install php-mcrypt?

Hielkio

luceos I'm running CentOS, so I don't have apt-get 😆

[hielke@hosting flarum]$ sudo yum install php-mcrypt varnishcache_varnish64 383 B/s | 833 B 00:02 varnishcache_varnish64-source 392 B/s | 833 B 00:02 No match for argument: php-mcrypt Error: Unable to find a match: php-mcrypt

I assume this is*nix ?

Nginx? -> yes

[deleted]

Hielkio Have you tried via PECL ?
https://whattheserver.com/how-to-install-mcrypt-for-php-7-2-and-php-7-3-on-centos-7cpanel/

Hielkio

[deleted] Yep .. not completely this tutorial, because that one is based on CPanel as management platform. I'm using CWP Pro (Control Web Panel for CentOS).

Hielkio

I can't understand why the project is using mcrypt as it's deprecated for a long time (last updated at least 8 years ago) and removed from php 7.x. I'm using php 7.3.28 - not even php 7.4.x

The only solution I could think of is downgrading the php version, but that's not what I intend to do. That would be really silly IMO.

Atreatis

Hielkio You don't have to downgrade your PHP Version to a lower version personally I even recommend upgrading to PHP 7.4 instead rather then an older version because of a long dragged performance issues that's been ongoing with those versions.

If you need help with this feel free to reach out for me on Discord (Atreatis) so we can look more closely to the case through the official Flarum Discord Server which can be found here: https://flarum.org/discord

Also keep in-mind setting up a server also means that you have to maintain it at all times including security and keeping your system updated. My personal opinion goes to have someone hosting it for you that provided such possibilities and helps you getting started by installing it on their webhosting platform for you.

Currently there are two options for this:
The free option which is fully managed and donation driven:
https://discuss.flarum.org/d/7585-free-flarum-hosting-on-an-expert-platform-by-freeflarum-com/2516

The paid option where you manage it yourself with support:
https://discuss.flarum.org/d/27816-secure-flarum-webhosting-within-netherlands

Currently I am not aware of any other hosting solutions yet but will be working on that very soon.

rob006

Hielkio I can't understand why the project is using mcrypt as it's deprecated for a long time

Are you sure that Flarum is using mcrypt? From error message it looks like it is your PHP config tries to load mcrypt, while it is not available. Try just remove /usr/local/php/php.d/mcrypt.ini or comment all directives in this file.