PHP 5.4 built-in webserver & Linux (mint/ubuntu)

PHP 5.4 comes with a built-in webserver, which can be useful for development and quick tests. It easily launched from the command-line, but if you’re running Linux Mint or Ubuntu, the PHP version, isn’t 5.4 but 5.3.x. If you don’t have the time/courage/energy to compile PHP 5.4 yourself, some nice fellow on the internet has done the work and made it available through a package repository which makes it a breeze to install.

To install PHP 5.4 on your Ubuntu or Linux Mint simply do this:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php5
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install php5

(answer yes to any questions asked).

then you should go to go. Verify the update with: `php –version

.. and the “answer” should be something like:

PHP 5.4.4-1~precise+1 (cli) (built: Jun 17 2012 13:01:09) Copyright (c) 1997-2012 The PHP Group Zend Engine v2.4.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2012 Zend Technologies` (version numbers and dates are probably subject to change).

To use the webserver, go to the directory you want to be the document root, and launch the webserver with: php -S localhost:8000 and you can also add a custom php.ini file with the configuration you want with: php -c ./php.ini -S local:8000

Please remember, that the built-in webserver is only suited for development, but for a quick hack, it sure beats installing Apache or any other webserver.