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I need to downgrade my PHP version from 5.5.9 to 5.4 (using Ubuntu 14.04), because I have a code that's using mySQL (which is deprecated in 5.5.9), and I cannot change that code. Is there a way to do it?

*I tried the other threads that I saw about that issue in the site, but I couldn't find anything that helped me.

Hagaymosko
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  • How can I roll back after this command. I can't install phpmyadmin now –  Oct 07 '14 at 15:00

2 Answers2

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First you need to remove all php5 files :

sudo apt-get remove --purge `dpkg -l | grep php | grep -w 5.5 | awk '{print $2}' | xargs`

After that try to search for php 5.4. available resources :

apt-cache policy php5

My result :

php5:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 5.5.9+dfsg-1ubuntu4.4
  Version table:
     5.5.9+dfsg-1ubuntu4.4 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-security/main amd64 Packages
     5.5.9+dfsg-1ubuntu4 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages

If there is no resources available than we need to add some by following command : 

echo "deb http://php53.dotdeb.org stable all" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list

and

apt-get update

If there is a problem with signatures like following :

Reading package lists... Done
W: GPG error: http://php53.dotdeb.org stable Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY xxxxxCODExxxx

we need to sign our Deb repository by commands :

gpg --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-key xxxxxCODExxxx
gpg -a --export xxxxxCODExxxx | sudo apt-key add - apt-get update

After that execute :

sudo apt-get update
apt-cache policy php5

you should see last result :

php5:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 5.5.9+dfsg-1ubuntu4.4
  Version table:
     5.5.9+dfsg-1ubuntu4.4 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-security/main amd64 Packages
     5.5.9+dfsg-1ubuntu4 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
     5.4.33-1~dotdeb.1 0
        500 http://php53.dotdeb.org/ stable/all amd64 Packages

and finally install your version by hitting :

apt-get install php5=5.4.33-1~dotdeb.1

Enjoy ;)

Community
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Aniruddha Sarkar
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  • select it as ur answer – Aniruddha Sarkar Jul 15 '14 at 17:37
  • I don't have enough reputation :( – Hagaymosko Jul 16 '14 at 18:08
  • It didn't work... – Hagaymosko Jul 16 '14 at 18:12
  • please note the EXACT version of php 5.4 available. the final step didn't work for me until I changed to 5.4.34 which is what is currently available. 5.4.33 is not there anymore – AwokeKnowing Oct 27 '14 at 19:55
  • I followed these instructions and there were no errors, the output of the final command apt-get install php5=5.4.35-1~dotdeb.1 indicated that it was installing the correct version, but php --version still show PHP 5.5.9-1ubuntu4.5 – RTF Dec 03 '14 at 21:15
  • @RTF I have exactly the same issue - did you resolve it? – benedict_w Dec 27 '14 at 20:14
  • @benedict_w I didn't unfortunately, i just removed my legacy php dependency, which was the ultimate but most painful solution. If u can't get it working, you might have to build php from source – RTF Dec 27 '14 at 20:24
  • Instructions for building from source on 14.04: https://stavrovski.net/blog/build-and-install-php-5329-from-source-on-an-ubuntu-1404-lts-server – RTF Dec 27 '14 at 20:28
  • Thanks. I am using Laravel 3 and it looks like an easy fix (https://github.com/laravel/laravel/commit/3298407238fd3e212cdf8d829adc6f519b941052) so I will just try and get it working on PHP 5.5 for now – benedict_w Dec 27 '14 at 21:47
  • I got W: Failed to fetch copy:/var/lib/apt/lists/partial/php53.dotdeb.org_dists_stable_all_binary-amd64_Packages Invalid file format after adding http://php53.dotdeb.org to sources.list – kiradotee Jul 26 '16 at 10:27
  • @aniruddha.sarkar I got error like kiradotee says. – Dark Cyber May 11 '17 at 11:56
  • Same error, still showing 5.5.9 with php -v. The weird thing is that with apt-cache policy php shows 5.4 installed. – Beto Aveiga Jun 26 '17 at 15:23
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add dotdeb repo by following command : 

echo "deb http://php53.dotdeb.org stable all" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list

Fetch and install the GnuPG key

wget http://www.dotdeb.org/dotdeb.gpg
sudo apt-key add dotdeb.gpg

Then

sudo apt-get update

The easy way to install the specific version is via synaptic

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all done

enter image description here

also you should downgrade the apache to install right "libapache2-mod-php5"

add precise repo by the following command

echo "deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-security main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list && sudo apt-get update

then 

sudo aptitude install apache2=2.2.22-1ubuntu1.7

make sure you accept the following

The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

Install the following packages:
1) apache2-mpm-prefork [2.2.22-1ubuntu1.7 (precise-security)]
2) apache2.2-bin [2.2.22-1ubuntu1.7 (precise-security)]

then 

sudo aptitude install libapache2-mod-php5=5.4.36-1~dotdeb.1

don't forget to set specific version when try to install an php package

sudo aptitude install php5-mysql=5.4.36-1~dotdeb.1
Hany Alsamman
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