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Jurian Sluiman
Asked: 2012-08-17 02:24:07 +0800 CST

Update to recent stable php in Ubuntu 12.04

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We run an Ubuntu 12.04 server where php 5.3.10 is installed by default. I thought Ubuntu did only apply bugfixes in their updates, so micros like 5.3.x should pass through.

Apparently, our version isn't updated, but we are stuck with a critical bug in php which is solved in 5.3.15. Should I wait longer for this release to bubble up? Or are there safe repositories to use for Ubuntu to continuously update php and php related packages?

ubuntu

5 Answers

  1. The ubuntu version of php you have installed does not necessarily have the same version number as the upstream bugfix release, even though the ubuntu release have backported the bugfix into its package.

    apt-get dist-upgrade should bring you up to date with the latest security patches from the ubuntu repositories. Check out the link below for ubuntu's changelog on bugfixes in this particular package.

    http://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs/pool/main/p/php5/php5_5.3.10-1ubuntu3.2/changelog

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  2. You can use apt-pinning to install packages distributed with newer versions of Ubuntu. This Guide is pretty good and should explain all questions: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PinningHowto

    Comprehensive Debian Guide: http://jaqque.sbih.org/kplug/apt-pinning.html

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  3. There's a patch on the bug report - you could try applying this to the src package and rebuilding it - but wouldn't it just be simpler to use the 'error_log' config to record the errors elsewhere?

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  4. There is some work going on at http://packages.tooptee.org/ - but since I use neither nginx nor these experimental versions I can't say anything about the stability or usability of that archive.

    Since a workaround is suggested (the error_log directive, which you are using) I'd rather invest in log-mangling scripts to put all your errors in one file than modify existing stable packages. If you feel adventurous you could try Quantal Quetzal (Ubuntu 12.10) which is to go beta next week, the PHP version there is 5.4.6 which includes the fix you want.

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  5. There are often backports available from more recent Ubuntu releases for the latest server release. For example, this repository seems to have some. Although they don't seen to be updated very recently.

    https://launchpad.net/~webstack/+archive/php?field.series_filter=precise

    You can of course also just grab the .deb for Quantal and install it on Precise using dpkg -i somepackage.deb, but that is usually not recommended, due to potential changes in dependencies. Although I think in this case you'll be fine.

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