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Fixing: pecl/xdebug requires PHP (version >= 8.0.0, version <= 8.3.99), installed version is 7.4.33

Summary

Installing Xdebug on PHP 7.4 returns an error stating "pecl/xdebug requires PHP (version >= 8.0.0, version <= 8.3.99), installed version is 7.4.33". This can be replicated using a docker container as shown in the example below.

chris@chris-xps:~$ docker run --rm -it php:7.4 bash
root@8036afe9b83b:/# pecl install xdebug
pecl/xdebug requires PHP (version >= 8.0.0, version <= 8.3.99), installed version is 7.4.33
No valid packages found
install failed
root@8036afe9b83b:/#

Reason

Xdebug 3.3 is the latest stable version and PECL will attempt to install this, however, Xdebug 3.3 requires at least PHP 8.0 or later. As a result, trying to install this on a PHP version lower than this results in this error. There are 2 possible solutions to this

  • Upgrade to PHP 8
  • Install an earlier version of Xdebug i.e. 3.1.5

Solution 1: Upgrade to PHP 8

This would be the recommended option. Upgrading will allow the benefit of Xdebug 3.3 but likely a host of other fixes and performance improvements as a by product.

Start PHP 8 container and install Xdebug

chris@chris-xps:~$ docker run --rm -it php:8 bash
root@cf1d7bb26c64:/# pecl install xdebug

...
...  output from build steps ...
...

Build process completed successfully
Installing '/usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20230831/xdebug.so'
install ok: channel://pecl.php.net/xdebug-3.3.2
configuration option "php_ini" is not set to php.ini location
You should add "zend_extension=/usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20230831/xdebug.so" to php.ini

Enable xdebug

root@cf1d7bb26c64:/# docker-php-ext-enable xdebug

Check Xdebug is installed and running

root@cf1d7bb26c64:/# php -v
PHP 8.3.6 (cli) (built: Apr 24 2024 05:12:09) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.3.6, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Xdebug v3.3.2, Copyright (c) 2002-2024, by Derick Rethans

Solution 2: Install older version of xdebug 3.1.5

If upgrading to PHP 8 is not an option, you can install an earlier version of Xdebug onto your PHP7 environment

Start PHP 7.4 container and install Xdebug

chris@chris-xps:~$ docker run --rm -it php:7.4 bash
root@aeb100b038dd:/# pecl install xdebug-3.1.5

...
...  output from build steps ...
...

Build process completed successfully
Installing '/usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20190902/xdebug.so'
install ok: channel://pecl.php.net/xdebug-3.1.5
configuration option "php_ini" is not set to php.ini location
You should add "zend_extension=/usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20190902/xdebug.so" to php.ini

Enable xdebug

root@aeb100b038dd:/# docker-php-ext-enable xdebug

Check xdebug is installed and running

root@aeb100b038dd:/# php -v
PHP 7.4.33 (cli) (built: Nov 15 2022 06:01:17) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Xdebug v3.1.5, Copyright (c) 2002-2022, by Derick Rethans

References

Originally published at https://chrisshennan.com/blog/fixing-pecl-xdebug-requires-php-version-8-installed-version-7-4