How to install PHP SSH2 PECL extension?

ppo

I need ssh2_sftp.
I found how to install PEAR/PECL on Opalstack.
But the ssh2 PECL extension requires libssh2.

configure: error: The required libssh2 library was not found.  You can obtain that package from http://sourceforge.net/projects/libssh2/
ERROR: `/home/XXX/tmp/pear/ssh2/configure --with-php-config=/usr/bin/php-config --with-ssh2' failed

What is the right way to install libssh2?
✅ Answer: Already installed in /usr/lib64.
❌ But still need to find how to tell PECL it's there.

Is it better to do php go-pear.phar or php81 go-pear.phar?
✅ Answer: php81

What must be done when, later, we're using a new version of PHP?
✅ Answer: pear config-set XXX for all values including php81.

Here's what I did to install and configure PEAR and PECL, and to (try to) install the SSH2 extension…

PHP_BIN=/usr/bin/php81
TMP_DIR=$HOME/tmp

mkdir -p $TMP_DIR && cd $_
wget http://pear.php.net/go-pear.phar
cd $HOME

$PHP_BIN $TMP_DIR/go-pear.phar

PATH=$PATH:$HOME/pear/bin
pear config-set php_bin $PHP_BIN
pear config-set temp_dir $TMP_DIR/pear
pear channel-update pear.php.net
pecl channel-update pecl.php.net

ssh2_version=$( pecl search ssh2 | grep -E "^ssh2 " | sed -E 's/^ssh2 +([0-9\.\-]+).*$/\1/g' )
pecl install ssh2-$ssh2_version

sean

ppo What is the right way to install libssh2?

libssh2 is already installed on your server in /usr/lib64:

# ll /usr/lib64/libssh2*
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root     16 Oct 12  2020 /usr/lib64/libssh2.so.1 -> libssh2.so.1.0.1
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 186680 Aug  9  2019 /usr/lib64/libssh2.so.1.0.1

Try running the following prior to running your install command:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib64:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

ppo Is it better to do php go-pear.phar or php81 go-pear.phar?

I don't think it matters as long as you configure pear/pecl to use php81 after the installation, but if you're going to be using a specific version of PHP in your projects then I recommend using that same version of PHP to install pear/pecl.

ppo What must be done when, later, we're using a new version of PHP?

You would need to reconfigure pear/pecl as in your example above and re-install your extensions.

sean

ppo to install the ssh2 PECL extension you'll need to build it manually instead of having the pecl command build it for you.

The build steps are:

mkdir -p ~/tmp ~/src ~/opt/php81_exts
cd ~/src
wget http://pecl.php.net/get/ssh2-1.3.1.tgz
tar zxf ssh2-1.3.1.tgz
cd ssh2-1.3.1
/opt/remi/php81/root/usr/bin/phpize
./configure --with-php-config=/opt/remi/php81/root/usr/bin/php-config
make
cp modules/ssh2.so ~/opt/php81_exts/
ln -s /opt/remi/php81/root/usr/lib64/php/modules/* ~/opt/php81_exts/

Then in your app's .user.ini add the following:

extension_dir = /home/shelluser/opt/php81_exts/

Please give that a shot and let me know how it goes 🙂

ppo

sean export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib64:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

Thanks @sean… Unfortunately it doesn't work 😕
The output always says checking for ssh2 files in default path... not found (“default path” but it doesn't display the actual value).

I also tried unsuccessfully to specify that path as libssh2 prefix, which changes the args to --with-ssh2=/usr/lib64/ (instead of --with-ssh2).

libssh2 prefix? [autodetect] : /usr/lib64/
[…]
checking for ssh2 files in default path... not found
configure: error: The required libssh2 library was not found.  You can obtain that package from http://sourceforge.net/projects/libssh2/
ERROR: `/home/XXX/tmp/pear/ssh2/configure --with-php-config=/usr/bin/php-config --with-ssh2=/usr/lib64/' failed

ppo

sean ppo Is it better to do php go-pear.phar or php81 go-pear.phar?

I should have explained in more detail 😉

When installing with php go-pear.phar and pear config-set php_bin /usr/bin/php81, the only difference is:

-PHP CLI/CGI binary             php_bin          /usr/bin/php
+PHP CLI/CGI binary             php_bin          /usr/bin/php81

But there are a lot more differences with php81 go-pear.phar.
The first block could probably generate problems, so better be safe.

- php
+ php81

-PHP extension directory        ext_dir          /usr/lib64/php/modules
+PHP extension directory        ext_dir          /opt/remi/php81/root/usr/lib64/php/modules

-System Configuration File      Filename         /etc/pear.conf
+System Configuration File      Filename         /etc/opt/remi/php81/pear.conf

-Auto-discover new Channels     auto_discover    <not set>
+Auto-discover new Channels     auto_discover    0

-PEAR Installer cache directory cache_dir        /tmp/pear/cache
+PEAR Installer cache directory cache_dir        /var/opt/remi/php81/cache/php-pear

-PEAR metadata directory        metadata_dir     <not set>
+PEAR metadata directory        metadata_dir     /var/opt/remi/php81/lib/pear

-PHP CLI/CGI binary             php_bin          /usr/bin/php
+PHP CLI/CGI binary             php_bin          /opt/remi/php81/root/usr/bin/php

-Unix file mask                 umask            2
+Unix file mask                 umask            22

-Signature Key Directory        sig_keydir       /etc/pearkeys
+Signature Key Directory        sig_keydir       /etc/opt/remi/php81/pearkeys

sean

ppo I should have explained in more detail

Ok, definitely go with using PHP 8.1 to install pear then.

I'm looking into the libssh2 issue and will follow up when I have more info.

ppo

sean Sorry for the very late answer!

I just tried that but I've the following error on the ./configure command:

checking for ssh2 support... yes, shared
checking for ssh2 files in default path... not found
configure: error: The required libssh2 library was not found.  You can obtain that package from http://sourceforge.net/projects/libssh2/

In fact, it seems to be because libssh2-devel is not installed (for libssh2.h).
The error message (already the first one) is libssh2 library not found… library, not package 🙄🫤

yum list installed | grep libssh2
Repodata is over 2 weeks old. Install yum-cron? Or run: yum makecache fast
libssh2.x86_64                       1.8.0-4.el7                @anaconda

sean

ppo libssh2-devel is already installed on your server. I'm not certain that it should be necessary to do so, but if the problem is that you're not able to locate the dev headers then try setting CPPFLAGS prior to running the build, eg:

export CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/include $CPPFLAGS"

ppo

sean Still the same error.
I saw here that it's looking for libssh2.h in these default paths, and the file is not there.

/usr/local/include/libssh2.h
/usr/include/libssh2.h

sean

ppo the file is definitely there on your server:

[root@opalXX ~]# ls -l /usr/include/libssh2.h
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 52320 Oct 13  2020 /usr/include/libssh2.h

ppo

sean I don't have access to it on opal15…

$ ls -l /usr/include/libssh2.h
ls: cannot access /usr/include/libssh2.h: No such file or directory

sean

ppo aha, that explains that 🙂

libssh2-devel is now installed on opal15.

ppo

sean Thanks, it works now 😀

For reference, for CLI usage:

php81 -d extension_dir=~/opt/php81_exts -d extension=ssh2.so

Or creating a local php.ini:

$ php81 -i | grep "Configuration File"
Configuration File (php.ini) Path => /etc/opt/remi/php81
Loaded Configuration File => /etc/opt/remi/php81/php.ini

mkdir -p ~/etc
cp /etc/opt/remi/php81/php.ini ~/etc/php81.ini

Edit ~/etc/php81.ini and edit/add the following:
(Add E to variables_order to be able to use the env var $HOME in extension_dir.)

variables_order = "EGPCS"
extension_dir = ${HOME}/opt/php81_exts/
extension = ssh2.so

Then you can: php81 -c ~/etc/php81.ini
And add to your ~/.bashrc: alias php81='php81 -c $HOME/etc/php81.ini'

ppo

To summarize all the above in a scripted install procedure…

How To Install PECL SSH2:

phpv="81"
pkg="ssh2-1.3.1"
moddir="${HOME}/opt/php${phpv}/modules"

mkdir -p ~/tmp && cd $_

wget https://pecl.php.net/get/${pkg}.tgz
tar zxf ${pkg}.tgz
cd $pkg

/opt/remi/php${phpv}/root/usr/bin/phpize
./configure --with-php-config=/opt/remi/php${phpv}/root/usr/bin/php-config
make

mkdir -p $moddir
cp modules/ssh2.so $moddir/
ln -s /opt/remi/php${phpv}/root/usr/lib64/php/modules/* $moddir/

cd ~/tmp
rm -fr ${pkg}* package.xml

For web apps:

appname="<NAME OF YOUR APP>"

echo -e "extension_dir = ${moddir}/\nextension = ssh2.so" >> ~/apps/${appname}/.user.ini

For CLI usage:

inifile="${HOME}/etc/php${phpv}.ini"

mkdir -p $( dirname $inifile )
cp $( php${phpv} -i | grep 'Loaded Configuration File' | sed 's/^.* => //' ) $inifile
sed -i 's/^variables_order = .*$/variables_order = "EGPCS"/' $inifile
extdir="$( sed "s@${HOME}@\${HOME}@" <<< $moddir )"
sed -i "/^;extension_dir = \"ext\".*$/a extension_dir = ${extdir}/\nextension = ssh2.so" $inifile

echo "alias php${phpv}='php${phpv} -c \$HOME/etc/php${phpv}.ini'" >> ~/.bashrc