PHP has no prebuilt Linux binaries. phpv compiles them.

PHP is the only major language without prebuilt Linux binaries.

• ⌗ p-01 Node, Python, Ruby, Go — all ship official binaries. PHP expects you to compile.
• ⌗ p-02 Compiling PHP by hand means hunting down OpenSSL, libxml2, curl, zlib, oniguruma and ICU.
• ⌗ p-03 Getting the --with-* flags right for your extensions is a black art.
• ⌗ p-04 Version managers like phpenv and phpbrew punt: they assume the deps are already there.

phpv makes the whole thing deterministic — and it actually works.

What phpv does for you.

The same PHP version management you currently do by hand — as a few deterministic commands.

# Install PHP 8.4 — 25 default extensions, deps auto-resolved,
# built from source if needed.
phpv install 8.4

# Customize the extension list
phpv install 8.4 --ext openssl,curl,apcu
phpv install 8.4 --minimal          # bare build (--disable-all --enable-cli)
phpv install 8.4 --jobs 4            # parallel make
phpv install 8.4 --fresh            # clean rebuild, keep cached source

# Initialize your shell (add to ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or fish config)
eval "$(phpv init bash)"

# Switch versions — per-shell, ephemeral
phpv use 8.3                         # current shell only
phpv use system                      # stop pinning, fall back to default
phpv use 8.3 --global                # global default
phpv default 8.3                     # set global default
phpv versions                        # list installed
phpv which                           # path to current PHP

# Per-project version via .php-version — auto-switch on cd
echo "7.2" > .php-version

# Now every shell that enters this directory uses PHP 7.2
# (requires `phpv init` in your shell config)

# List what's available / installed
phpv extension list
phpv extension available 8.4

# Add an extension into the active version
phpv extension add pdo_pgsql
#   → recommends installing postgresql-libs (Arch) /
#     libpq-dev (Debian/Alpine) / postgresql-devel (Fedora)

phpv extension add redis --auto-deps --dry-run
phpv extension remove xdebug

# Manage PHAR tools — per-version, each PHP has its own phars
phpv phar install composer
phpv phar install pie
phpv phar install wp-cli
phpv phar install composer --version 8.4
phpv phar update composer
phpv phar list
phpv phar which composer

# Export a PHP build as a portable bundle
phpv share 8.4                       # → bundle.tar.gz

# Import it on another machine
phpv install 8.4 --from bundle.tar.gz

# System readiness check
phpv doctor

# Extension analysis for a specific version
phpv doctor 8.4

# Full verbose rebuild when something's off
phpv install 8.4 --fresh --verbose

How it works.

phpv turns "compile PHP from source" into a single deterministic command. It resolves the dependency graph, reuses what your system already has, builds only what is missing, and compiles PHP with the correct flags.

Dependencies are keyed by (name, version) and shared across PHP versions that pin the same version — build once, reuse everywhere. phpv only downloads and extracts what it will actually compile; system packages that satisfy the required version constraints are used directly, and build tools come from the system.

Command reference.

The full phpv command surface, grouped by workflow. Every command is a single binary — no runtime dependencies.

Install phpv.

The recommended path is the one-line installer: it detects your platform and shell, installs to $PHPV_ROOT/bin (default ~/.phpv), and wires up shell integration automatically. Prebuilt binaries and building from source are also supported.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/supanadit/phpv/main/install.sh | bash

git clone https://github.com/supanadit/phpv.git && cd phpv && go build -o phpv ./app/phpv.go

The installer detects your platform and shell, installs to $PHPV_ROOT/bin (default ~/.phpv), and appends the phpv init line to your shell config automatically. Pin a version with INSTALL_VERSION=0.11.0. Prefer a manual install? Grab a binary from the releases page — each ships with a matching .sha256 file.

# The installer adds `eval "$(phpv init <shell>)"` to your shell config
# automatically. Restart your shell (or source the config), then:
phpv which          # path to the current PHP binary
phpv versions       # list installed PHP versions
phpv install 8.4    # 25 default extensions, deps auto-resolved
phpv use 8.4 --global

Questions, answered.