Install PHP4 and PHP5 on Linux Debian

As it took me quite a lot of time to do this, I’ll post it here so I can find it later if needed.

I tried it on Squeeze but it should be OK on Wheezy too.

We can’t install both PHP 4 and PHP 5 as Apache module. So what we’re going to do is install PHP 5 as Apache module and PHP 4 as CGI.

First, install apache 2.

Secondly, install MySQL server and phpmyadmin if needed.

Then, don’t forget to install FCGID for Apache

Hardest part now : install PHP 4. You can’t imagine how many hours I waste onto trying to install this old s****. But I clearly had no choice.

There is a nice dude which shares packages of PHP 4 online. The best part is, you can add it as a repo for apt.

Packages are there for 64bits versions : http://www.cecak.cz/debian/squeeze/php4/amd64/

Then, just edit you /etc/apt/sources.lists and add

In a terminal, go for

Then you’re good to go !

And then all extensions you need :

Now, let’s tell Apache to use PHP 4 on a separate virutal host, so you keep PHP 5 by default and PHP 4 only on a special address.

I just copied the default site config. You can call the new file whatever you want.

My virtual host files will be stored in /var/www/php4. My config file looks like this :

The most important part is FilesMatch, which will tell Apache to use PHP CGI (PHP 4 here) to execute php files.

Save the file and enable it using

Then restart Apache so it takes all modifications into account.

Last part, we need to edit /etc/hosts file to add our virtual host address to point it to localhost. Simply add

at the end of the file.

Now you should be good to go !

You can show php version putting this code

into a file and go for it into your browser.