Upgrading PHP to version 5.4 on Ubuntu

Upgrading PHP to version 5.4 on Ubuntu

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[UPDATE]: I've recently used this approach on a 64-bit Ubuntu Server ( clean install) and it seems to have worked so that's good news for me and praise to Ondřej Surý who maintains that ppa!

If you're using a version of Ubuntu which has still got PHP 5.3++ in its repositories, this is what you need to do do upgrade PHP to version 5.4 and start using its new features:


Troubleshooting

  • sudo: add-apt-repository: command not found

    You need to install python-software-properties first:

    sudo apt-get install python-software-properties
    
  • re-installing APC

    I used this to upgrade my PHP version at home. I was asked whether I wanted to replace my php.ini version with the one that came with the new upgrade. I said no.

    Maybe because of that, some of the extensions I use (like apc and some pdo drivers) couldn't be found when I tried to run my apps after upgrading PHP like this.

    I ended up needing to re-install apc, which is easy enough:

    sudo pecl uninstall apc
    sudo pecl uninstall apc-beta
    sudo pecl install apc-beta
    

    Restart Apache