I inherited a RHEL 9 box shipping PHP 8.0.27 — a version that reached end of life in November 2023, meaning no more security patches. In enterprise environments I have seen teams run EOL runtimes for months out of sheer inertia, and the risk compounds silently. I needed PHP 8.2 for framework compatibility and the performance gains from the maturing JIT compiler, so I upgraded through the Remi repository. Here is the procedure, step by step.

Why Upgrade to PHP 8.2?

PHP 8.2 brings several improvements over 8.0:

• Readonly classes - Declare entire classes as readonly
• Disjunctive Normal Form (DNF) Types - Combine union and intersection types
• null, false, and true as standalone types
• Random Extension - New object-oriented API for random number generation
• Deprecated dynamic properties - Better code quality enforcement
• Performance improvements - Continued optimisation from the JIT compiler

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, ensure you have:

• RHEL 9 with sudo access
• An active subscription or configured repositories

Step 1: Enable EPEL Repository

Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) is a Special Interest Group (SIG) from the Fedora Project that provides additional high-quality packages for RHEL and compatible distributions.

sudo dnf install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-9.noarch.rpm -y

Step 2: Enable Remi Repository

The Remi repository is maintained by Remi Collet, a Fedora packager. It provides the latest versions of PHP and related packages, making it the go-to source for PHP on RHEL-based systems.

sudo dnf install dnf-utils https://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-9.rpm -y

Step 3: Install PHP 8.2

First, list available PHP module streams to see your options:

sudo dnf module list php

You’ll see multiple versions available from different repositories. Enable the Remi PHP 8.2 module:

sudo dnf module enable php:remi-8.2 -y

If you have an existing PHP installation, you may need to reset the module first:

sudo dnf module reset php -y
sudo dnf module enable php:remi-8.2 -y

Now install PHP:

sudo dnf install php -y

Step 4: Install Common Extensions

You’ll likely need additional PHP extensions. Here are some commonly required ones:

sudo dnf install php-cli php-fpm php-mysqlnd php-pdo php-gd php-mbstring php-xml php-curl php-zip php-intl php-opcache -y

Step 5: Verify Installation

Confirm PHP 8.2 is installed correctly:

php -v

Expected output:

PHP 8.2.x (cli) (built: ...)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.2.x, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v8.2.x, ...

Check loaded modules:

php -m

Configuring PHP-FPM (Optional)

If you’re using PHP-FPM with Nginx or Apache:

# Start and enable PHP-FPM
sudo systemctl start php-fpm
sudo systemctl enable php-fpm

# Check status
sudo systemctl status php-fpm

The main configuration file is located at /etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf.

Troubleshooting

Module conflicts: If you encounter conflicts with the default PHP module, reset it first:

sudo dnf module reset php

Missing extensions: Search for available extensions:

dnf search php- | grep 8.2

SELinux issues: If PHP-FPM fails to start, check SELinux:

sudo setsebool -P httpd_execmem 1

Final Thoughts

The procedure itself is straightforward — Remi Collet has done the thankless work of maintaining up-to-date packages for RHEL-based systems, and the community owes him a debt. What is less straightforward is the organisational discipline that comes after: updating composer.json constraints, running your test suite against the new runtime, and — if you are running PHP-FPM behind a reverse proxy — verifying that socket permissions and pool configurations survived the upgrade. I have been bitten by all three. The upgrade is the easy part; the vigilance that follows is what separates a healthy deployment from a time bomb.

Installing PHP 8.2 on RHEL 9

A step-by-step guide to upgrading PHP using the Remi repository.

Achraf SOLTANI — April 28, 2023