Question

12

What is the difference between php and php7.2 packages?

rated 0 times [ 12] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 2302 / 1 Year ago, thu, december 22, 2022, 2:29:16

Shall I install both of them and both of its modules?

apt-cache depends php

php

  Depends: php7.2

And there is two packages for php cli:

apt-cache policy php7.2-cli 

php7.2-cli:

  Installed: (none)

  Candidate: 7.2.7-0ubuntu0.18.04.2

  Version table:

     7.2.7-0ubuntu0.18.04.2 500

        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/main amd64 Packages

        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 Packages

     7.2.3-1ubuntu1 500

        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages

The next one:

apt-cache policy php-cli 

php-cli:

  Installed: (none)

  Candidate: 1:7.2+60ubuntu1

  Version table:

     1:7.2+60ubuntu1 500

        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages

        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main i386 Packages

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homerurhyth

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2 Years ago

answered 1 Year ago truwom · Accepted Answer

php is a meta package. It does not contain any software, but just links to the "correct" package via its dependency/ies.

From apt show php:

This package is a dependency package, which depends on Debian's default
PHP version (currently 7.0).

(7.0, because I'm using 16.04)

So it is up to you whether to install php or php7.2. But note: with the next release upgrade, php might get upgraded to the next version, while with php7.2, the version is fixed which might lead to some issues after upgrading.

For the normal user® it is recommended to install the meta-package.

There are also meta-packages depending on multiple other packages, so you can install a whole software bundle with just one meta-package, e.g. unity-desktop.

From help.ubuntu.com:

One of the handy features of apt (the packaging system used by Ubuntu) is the use of metapackages. These packages do not contain actual software, they simply depend on other packages to be installed. This setup allows entire sets of software to be installed by selecting only the appropriate metapackage

Links:

Ubuntu Help: MetaPackages

Related Question: What is the difference between a meta-package and a package?