Upgrading PHP to 8 on macOS with Homebrew and Configuring Common Extensions

This article explains how to upgrade PHP to version 8 on macOS using Homebrew, verify the installation, and configure common extensions.

Update Homebrew

brew update

Upgrade PHP

brew upgrade php

Check the installed PHP version

php -v

Restart your web server

sudo nginx -s reload

sudo apachectl restart

Create a simple index.php containing phpinfo(); and access it through your web server to confirm the version shows 8.0.x.

Laravel Valet users

Run the following commands to update Valet and its dependencies:

composer global update

valet install

After upgrading, restart Valet:

valet restart

Install common PECL extensions

pecl install imagick

pecl install redis

pecl install xdebug

List installed extensions:

pecl list

Search for other extensions, for example PDF libraries:

pecl search pdf

Configure extensions in php.ini

Add the following lines to the appropriate php.ini file (you can locate it with php --ini ):

extension="redis.so"

extension="imagick.so"

zend_extension="xdebug.so"

After modifying php.ini , restart the web server (or Valet) again.

If an extension fails to load, you can reinstall it:

pecl uninstall imagick

pecl install imagick

Final step

Test your applications and upgrade them for PHP 8 compatibility. For more PHP 8 features, refer to the dedicated PHP 8 section.