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nutmix's avatar

which version of php to install with windows - threadsafe or non threadsafe, and which version?

I want to install laravel, but hit the first big hurdle - it assumes you already have php, and gives no guidance on which version is suitable.

Which should I install, 5.6 or 7.1.9? which version should I use, thread safe or non thread safe?

I am a grails guru who has been given a laravel 5.3 project to maintain, so now I have no experience with it beyond reading a laravel book from cover to cover (which did not cover php version)

I have heard of homestead, but don't want the pain of virtual machines (with associated file copying, SSH keys, setting up bridged networking (or not), copying files between them, sshing in) and all that jazz. I just want to edit code and see it work. Also, I read the homestead installation page.

I got the laravel project to work on a linux shared hosting (which was a challenge), but this already had php (5.6) installed.

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nutmix's avatar

As an addition, i am assuming I will need to setup a web server and point this to the laravel public dir. If I install apache, I assume I cant use the version php I would install manually - I have heard it has to use its own version (I don't know if this conflicts)

In this case, I am guessing nginx under windows might be better as it can use the standard PHP through fast-cgi?

Note, I can't install WAMP or similar because I already have a complex mysql installation with clustering.

jlrdw's avatar

For dev you could install a bitnami stack, would be independent of your other mysql install.

nutmix's avatar

i just took a wild guess that I should install the thread safe version with laravel (who knows), and downloaded the zip from here: http://windows.php.net/download/

However, the zip has no readme or install instructions. nor does the website.

Also there is no installer or MSI

i am amazed. No installer, and no installation instructions on php website, nor laravel website.

I would guess you have to add the php directory to the path, but i also saw something about setting up ini files and setting up libraries and dependencies,

Does anyone know where I can find out how to install php, as well as which version?

In production we may use forge, which I would guess uses nginx and some version of php (thread safe or non). How do we find this out so we can replicate this on windows?

Note, I already have several versions of apache installed, and dont want another one with a WAMP installer which will add duplicate mysql, apache etc. which would get very confusing.

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