Remi's RPM repository - Blog

RPMs of PHP version 8.3.2 are available in the remi-modular repository for Fedora ≥ 37 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8 (RHEL, Alma, CentOS, Rocky...) and in the remi-php83 repository for EL 7.

RPMs of PHP version 8.2.15 are available in the remi-modular repository for Fedora ≥ 37 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8 (RHEL, Alma, CentOS, Rocky...) and in the remi-php82 repository for EL 7.

The Fedora 39, EL-8 and EL-9 packages (modules and SCL) are available for x86_64 and aarch64.

There is no security fix this month, so no update for version 8.1.27.

PHP version 8.0 has reached its end of life and is no longer maintained by the PHP project.

These versions are also available as Software Collections in the remi-safe repository.

RPMs of PHP version 8.3.1 are available in the remi-modular repository for Fedora ≥ 37 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8 (RHEL, Alma, CentOS, Rocky...) and in the remi-php83 repository for EL 7.

RPMs of PHP version 8.2.14 are available in the remi-modular repository for Fedora ≥ 37 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8 (RHEL, Alma, CentOS, Rocky...) and in the remi-php82 repository for EL 7.

RPMs of PHP version 8.1.27 are available in the remi-modular repository for Fedora ≥ 37 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8 (RHEL, Alma, CentOS, Rocky...) and in the remi-php81 repository for EL 7.

The Fedora 39, EL-8 and EL-9 packages (modules and SCL) are available for x86_64 and aarch64.

PHP version 8.0 has reached its end of life and is no longer maintained by the PHP project.

These versions are also available as Software Collections in the remi-safe repository.

One year after PHP 7.4, and as announced, PHP version 8.0.30 was the last official release of PHP 8.0

To keep a secure installation, the upgrade to a maintained version is strongly recommended:

• PHP 8.1 has security only support and will be maintained until November 2024.
• PHP 8.2 has active support and will be maintained until December 2024 (2025 for security).
• PHP 8.3 has active support and will be maintained until November 2025 (2026 for security).

Read :

• PHP Supported versions
• Migration guide from PHP 8.0.x to PHP 8.1.x
• Migration guide from PHP 8.1.x to PHP 8.2.x
• Migration guide from PHP 8.2.x to PHP 8.3.x

However, given the very important number of downloads by the users of my repository the version is still available in remi repository for Enterprise Linux (RHEL, CentOS, Alma, Rocky...) and Fedora and will include the latest security fixes.

Warning : this is a best effort action, depending on my spare time, without any warranty, only to give users more time to migrate. This can only be temporary, and upgrade must be the priority.

You can also watch the sources repository on github.

RC6 was GOLD, so version 8.3.0 GA is just released, at planned date.

A great thanks to Eric Mann, Jakub Zelenka, and Pierrick Charron our Release Managers,  to all developers who have contributed to this new long awaiting version of PHP, and thanks to all testers of the RC versions who have allowed us to deliver a good quality version.

RPM are available in the php:remi-8.3 module for Fedora and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8 and as Software Collection in the remi-safe repository.

RPM are also available in the remi-php83 repository for  Enterprise Linux 7 (RHEL, CentOS, Alma, Rocky...).

Release Candidate versions are available in the testing repository for Fedora and Enterprise Linux (RHEL / CentOS / Alma / Rocky and other clones) to allow more people to test them. They are available as Software Collections, for a parallel installation, the perfect solution for such tests, and also as base packages.

RPMs of PHP version 8.2.13RC1 are available

• as base packages
  • in the remi-php82-test repository for Enterprise Linux 7
  • in the remi-modular-test for Fedora 37-39 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8
• as SCL in remi-test repository

RPMs of PHP version 8.1.26RC1 are available

• as base packages
  • in the remi-php81-test repository for Enterprise Linux 7
  • in the remi-modular-test for Fedora 37-39 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8
• as SCL in remi-test repository

The Fedora 39,  EL-8 and EL-9 packages (modules and SCL) are available for x86_64 and aarch64.

Release Candidate versions are available in the testing repository for Fedora and Enterprise Linux (RHEL / CentOS / Alma / Rocky and other clones) to allow more people to test them. They are available as Software Collections, for a parallel installation, the perfect solution for such tests, and also as base packages.

RPMs of PHP version 8.2.12RC1 are available

• as base packages
  • in the remi-php82-test repository for Enterprise Linux 7
  • in the remi-modular-test for Fedora 37-39 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8
• as SCL in remi-test repository

RPMs of PHP version 8.1.25RC1 are available

• as base packages
  • in the remi-php81-test repository for Enterprise Linux 7
  • in the remi-modular-test for Fedora 37-39 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8
• as SCL in remi-test repository

The Fedora 39,  EL-8 and EL-9 packages (modules and SCL) are available for x86_64 and aarch64.

Architecture

ARM 64-bit is a RISC family processor.

As an old Unix user (on 68000, PA-RISC, PowerPC...) I'm a big fan of these architectures and a bit sad by the CISC (Intel/AMD) domination.

But the wheel is turning. ARM can be fast, cheap, and use less energy. Remember they are used to power your smartphone.

Chicken or egg

Classic dilema.

For a few years, some users have started asking about aarch64 builds. But as there are few users, there are few available systems and few available software. Having more users, software or systems will allow others to grow (and price to decrease).

Raspberry Pi was a small, low-cost solution, but unsuitable for a serious builder.  Other professional solutions were too expensive for a free project.

Last year I set up an aarch64 VM (emulated on x86_64) and started producing packages.

Because this solution was terribly slow (by 50, so minutes became hours), I had to reduce the target. So only a minimal set of packages and only for EL-9, which is very frustrating for me and for the repository users.

Sponsoring

A few months ago, while I was thinking about a small fundraising for a builder, Robert Scheck contacted me on behalf of ETES GmbH to find a way to thank me, support my work, and increase my motivation. We agree on the goal of an ARM server to create a RPM builder.

And this is now a reality: I have an ARM builder, see ETES sponsert ARM-Buildsystem für Remi's RPM repository (in German with English translation).

Even if I'm used to receive Paypal donations from the repository user (for hosting budget and builder), lot of support by mirror providers, and some thanks messages such testimonial of faith is really very appreciated in a world where too many users confuse free and gratis.

The beast

• 2.2 GHz 64-core Ampere Altra processor (based on Neoverse N1)
• 64 GB DDR4 RAM
• 512 GB NVMe M.2 SSD
• two boards from ADLINK Technology

Benchmark

A simple CPU benchmark says it has the same note as my (now old) x86_64 builder.

• ARM Neoverse-N1 64 Core 2200 MHz vs Intel Core i9-9900K @ 3.60GHz

After a quick (and very simple) installation of RHEL 9.2 for aarch64 (using a free developer subscription), and the setup of my build environment, I  was able to run some comparisons and optimizations of builds.

1. a QT application

I run a build of qelectrotech on both builder.

The build takes 4' on x86_64 and 6' on aarch64. Despite this being a quite big project, it doesn't have the benefit of multiple-core parallelism.

For memory, a RPM build has a lot of steps which are not parallelized (chroot installation, link, archive...)

So for other tests, I will build PHP extensions that I usually build various time for various targets (distributions, PHP versions)

2. A small PHP extension

I run a set of builds of the ZIP extension, a small project (2 C files) which is quite common.

On x86_64

• 24" for a single build using -j16
• 15" average for 2 builds using -j8
• 12" average for 3 builds using -j5

On aarch64

• 29" for a single build using -j64
• 15" average for 2 builds using -j32
• 12" average for 3 builds using -j22

As this is a very small project, again no benefit from the number of cores, but same time for both builders.

3. A big PHP extension in C

I run a set of builds of GRPC extension, among the biggest ones (~2800 source files)

On x86_64

• 4'12" for a single build using -j16
• 3'29" average for 2 builds using -j8
• 3'25" average for 3 builds using -j5

On aarch64

• 2'34" for a single build using -j64
• 2'21" average for 2 builds using -j32
• 2'10" average for 3 builds using -j22

Here the number of cores gives a real benefit, as the aarch64 is even faster than the x86_64 one.

4. Another big PHP extension in Rust

I run a set of builds of datadog_trace extension, a terrible project in Rust using 400MB of sources

On x86_64

• 2'38" for a single build using -j16
• 1'30" average for 2 builds using -j8
• 1'12" average for 3 builds using -j5

On aarch64

• 4'44" for a single build using -j64
• 2'55" average for 2 builds using -j32
• 1'38" average for 3 builds using -j22

Strangely, x86_64 is slightly faster, not real difference.

5. Conclusion

This set of tests confirms that whatever the number of available cores, it is better to run various builds simultaneously. 3 or 4 seems the good choice for me as more will require more memory (chroot are stored in a 40GB tmpfs).

This new aarch64 is really an awesome builder! It will give me much more resources to build more packages. For example, I was able to rebuild the full Software Collections of PHP 7.4 to 8.3 for EL-9 (~150 extensions, more than 1000 built RPMs) in about 10 hours.

New goals

So aarch64 is now considered a primary arch for my repository

• x86_64 and aarch64 packages are built simultaneously
• modules and SCLs are available
• same set of packages
• testing packages

For now only for Enterprise Linux 9, but other distributions soon (probably EL-8, perhaps Fedora 39)

Thanks

I want to heartily thank ETES GmbH for its public support of my work and Robert Scheck for his time on this project.

RPMs of PHP version 8.2.10 are available in remi-modular repository for Fedora ≥ 36 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8 (RHEL, Alma, CentOS, Rocky...) and in remi-php82 repository for EL 7.

RPMs of PHP version 8.1.23 are available in remi-modular repository for Fedora ≥ 36 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8 (RHEL, Alma, CentOS, Rocky...) and in remi-php81 repository for EL 7.

The EL-8 and EL-9 packages (modules and SCL) are available for x86_64 and aarch64.

No security fix this month, so no update for version 8.0.30.

PHP version 7.4 have reached its end of life and is no longer maintained by the PHP project.

These versions are also available as Software Collections in the remi-safe repository.

Release Candidate versions are available in testing repository for Fedora and Enterprise Linux (RHEL / CentOS / Alma / Rocky and other clones) to allow more people to test them. They are available as Software Collections, for a parallel installation, perfect solution for such tests, and also as base packages.

RPM of PHP version 8.2.10RC1 are available

• as base packages
  • in the remi-php82-test repository for Enterprise Linux 7
  • in the remi-modular-test for Fedora 36-38 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8
• as SCL in remi-test repository

RPM of PHP version 8.1.23RC1 are available

• as base packages
  • in the remi-php81-test repository for Enterprise Linux 7
  • in the remi-modular-test for Fedora 36-38 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8
• as SCL in remi-test repository