6

I'm working on a Ubuntu 16 machine: 

lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS
Release:        16.04
Codename:       xenial

My experience with Ubuntu is "medium".

I needed to change the path the php command refers to in alternatives. I did the following: 

cd /etc/alternatives
ls -ls | grep php
0 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  15 Mar  7 06:31 php -> /usr/bin/php7.0

I want to change the path /usr/bin/php7.0 to /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/php.

The first thing I tried is update-alternatives --config php. This gave me this:

There is 1 choice for the alternative php (providing /usr/bin/php).

  Selection    Path             Priority   Status
------------------------------------------------------------
  0            /usr/bin/php7.0   70        auto mode
* 1            /usr/bin/php7.0   70        manual mode

Press <enter> to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number:

Sadly, I can't add another path by using this command.

The second thing I tried to do is this: update-alternatives --set php /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/php. The result of that: 

update-alternatives: error: alternative /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/php for php not registered; not setting

The third attempt, I went to /etc/alternatives and used unlink php. Then I created a new symlink like this: ln -s /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/php php. This changed the path in alternatives indead. See for yourself: 

root@xxtweb03:/etc/alternatives# ls -ls | grep php
0 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  26 Apr  4 12:18 php -> /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/php

It has only one disadvantage. When I run this command: update-alternatives --config php then the /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/php is not among the selection.

This is what I get: 

root@xxtweb03:/# update-alternatives --config php
There is 1 choice for the alternative php (providing /usr/bin/php).

  Selection    Path             Priority   Status
------------------------------------------------------------
  0            /usr/bin/php7.0   70        auto mode
  1            /usr/bin/php7.0   70        manual mode

Question: how can I add /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/php to the Path list that is displayed when running update-alternatives --config php?

Julian
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2 Answers2

8

you have to install alternative path first to display it in alternatives list, see manual page
by using this command,

update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/php php /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/php 71

it will install your /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/php into alternatives list

artemtech
  • 81
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5

I had to append an additional and mandatory option priority. The value has to be an integer.

This worked for me:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/php php /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/php 100

Maybe you also want to add alternatives of these commands:

  • phar
  • phar.phar
  • php-cgi
  • php-cgi-bin

These commands will add alternatives for all five commands (also called link groups):

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/php php /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/php 100
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/phar phar /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/phar 100
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/phar.phar phar.phar /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/phar.phar 100
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/php-cgi php-cgi /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/php-cgi 100
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/lib/cgi-bin/php php-cgi-bin /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/php-cgi 100
Torsten Homberger
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