Step-by-Step Guide to Compile and Install PHP 8.0 Alpha on CentOS with JIT Testing

This guide walks through the complete process of installing PHP 8.0 Alpha 1 on a CentOS 7.4 server, covering prerequisites, source download, extraction, configuration, compilation, installation, and post‑install verification, as well as a brief JIT performance test.

Prerequisites

Operating System: CentOS Linux release 7.4.1708 (Core)

GCC 4.8.5

PHP source version: php-8.0.0alpha1

1. Download source

$ wget https://downloads.php.net/~pollita/php-8.0.0alpha1.tar.gz

2. Extract archive $ tar -zxvf php-8.0.0alpha1.tar.gz 3. Create installation directory $ mkdir -p /usr/local/php80 4. Configure build options

$ cd php-8.0.0alpha1

$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/php80/ --enable-debug --enable-fpm --with-config-file-path=/usr/local/php80/etc --with-config-file-scan-dir=/usr/local/php80/etc/php.d/

If configuration fails, the guide lists two common errors (missing libxml2‑dev and sqlite3‑dev) and their resolutions:

yum install libxml2-devel.x86_64

yum install sqlite-devel.x86_64

5. Compile and install

$ make

$ make install

The output confirms successful installation of binaries, extensions, and helper programs.

6. Verify PHP version $ /usr/local/php80/bin/php -v Expected output shows PHP 8.0.0alpha1 (cli) with DEBUG build.

7. Environment configuration

$ ln -s /usr/local/php80/bin/php /usr/bin/php80

$ cp php.ini-development /usr/local/php80/etc/php.ini

$ cp /usr/local/php80/etc/php-fpm.conf.default /usr/local/php80/etc/phpfpm.conf

$ cp /usr/local/php80/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf.default /usr/local/php80/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf

$ cp sapi/fpm/init.d.php-fpm /etc/init.d/php80-fpm

$ chmod +x /etc/init.d/php80-fpm

8. Verify configuration paths $ php80 --ini Shows the correct php.ini and scan directory locations.

9. Start and test PHP‑FPM

$ /etc/init.d/php80-fpm start

$ ps aux | grep php-fpm

$ /etc/init.d/php80-fpm status

All commands confirm that the FPM master and worker processes are running.

10. Simple PHP script test

// index.php

<?php

var_dump(PHP_VERSION);

var_dump(PHP_VERSION_ID);

$ curl localhost

Outputs "8.0.0alpha1" and integer 80000.

11. JIT feature test

The author runs a benchmark (Zend/bench.php) on an 8‑core, 16 GB VM and observes minimal performance change when toggling JIT, illustrating the current state of the feature.

12. OPCache configuration

zend_extension=opcache
opcache.enable=1
opcache.enable_cli=1
opcache.memory_consumption=128
opcache.interned_strings_buffer=8
opcache.max_accelerated_files=10000
opcache.revalidate_freq=10
opcache.save_comments=0

Conclusion

The article presents a generic method for compiling PHP from source that can be adapted to other versions, highlights the importance of appropriate configure options and required libraries, and shares a brief JIT performance observation, directing readers to additional resources on PHP 8 JIT.