upgrading from php7.0 to 7.3

Hello, @omercohen

I will recommend you to take a snapshot of your server before making any changes as this is a production server.

You can try to install PHP 7.3 using the EPEL and Remi repository on your CentOS server:

1 . Enable EPEL and Remi

yum install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm

yum install http://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-7.rpm

2 . install yum-utils,

yum install yum-utils

3 . Use the yum-config manager to enable the remi PHP 7.3 as the default repository for installing this specific PHP version:

yum-config-manager --enable remi-php73

4 . You can now install all the needed PHP modules:

yum install php php-mcrypt php-cli php-gd php-curl php-mysql php-ldap php-zip php-fileinfo

You can check if everything is okay with the following command:

php -v

The expected output will be:

Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.3.1, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v7.3.1, Copyright (c) 1999-2018, by Zend Technologies```

Hope that this helps!
Regards,
Alex

For anyone stumbling upon this one, here a detailed steps on how you can upgrade from PHP 7.0 to 8.3 incase anyone needs a newer version.

The error you’re encountering when upgrading PHP from 7.0 to 8.3 on CentOS 7 using YUM involves repository conflicts and dependency issues, particularly with packages installed from the IUS repository that are not properly replaced or upgraded by those from the Remi repository. This can be tricky on a production server where you cannot simply remove PHP without downtime. Here’s a step-by-step approach to safely upgrade your PHP version:

Step 1: Prepare the System

1. Backup your current PHP configuration and any other critical data. This is essential before making major changes on a production server.

2. Remove or disable IUS repository, as it may cause conflicts with the Remi repository for newer PHP versions:

yum remove 'ius-release'

3. Ensure the Remi repository is installed and enabled for the desired PHP version:

yum install https://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-7.rpm
yum-config-manager --enable remi-php83

Step 2: Resolve Dependency Issues

1. Identify and remove conflicting packages. First, list them:

rpm -qa | grep php70u

Remove the PHP 7.0 packages:

yum remove php70u\*

1. Be careful with this command as it might also remove extensions and modules you might want to keep. Check the list carefully before confirming the removal.

Step 3: Install PHP 8.3

1. Clean YUM cache to ensure it reads from the updated repositories:

yum clean all

2. Install PHP 8.3: ``bash yum install php php-cli php-fpm php-common

You might need to install additional PHP modules that your applications require. You can search for available PHP modules by:
```bash
yum search php-

Check PHP version to confirm the upgrade:

php -v

Step 4: Configure PHP 8.3

1. Update PHP configuration files if necessary. Since PHP versions can have different directives and deprecated features, you’ll need to review and possibly modify php.ini and other related configuration files.

2. Migrate and test PHP configurations and websites to ensure compatibility with PHP 8.3. Pay attention to deprecated features and incompatible changes.