Installing Mcrypt PHP Extension - RunCloud Nginx

Hello everyone! Today, we're going to talk about installing the PHP Mcrypt extension on a RunCloud Nginx server. Mcrypt is a PHP extension that provides encryption and decryption functionality using various encryption algorithms. It was first introduced in PHP 4.0.2 and has since become a popular extension for securing data in PHP applications.

Introduction

Mcrypt supports a wide range of encryption algorithms, including AES, Blowfish, DES, and RC4, among others. These algorithms provide varying levels of security and performance, and choosing the right one depends on the specific use case.

Mcrypt can be used for a variety of purposes, including password storage, secure communication, and data encryption for storage. It can also be used to hash passwords, which is an important technique for securing user data.

In this blog post, we'll go over the steps required to install the PHPMcrypt extension on a RunCloud Nginx server. We'll be covering everything from downloading the extension to configuring it in your PHP environment. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced PHP developer, this guide will help you get up and running with the PHP Mcrypt extension quickly and easily.

Step1: Installing dependencies.

For this example, we are assuming our PHP version that require Mcrypt extension is PHP80, you can replace commands with your own version according to your requirement. Before jump into installation steps, first make sure below packages are installed on your server, you can just run the following commands.

apt-get install libmcrypt-dev libreadline-dev

apt-get install autoconf libpcre3-devmake clean

"autoconf" is a tool for generating configure scripts for building, installing, and deploying software packages on various operating systems. It creates scripts that can automatically determine the installation environment and configure the software to run on that environment.

"libpcre3-dev" is the development library for PCRE (Perl Compatible Regular Expressions), a library for working with regular expressions. The "dev" suffix indicates that this package provides the headers and libraries necessary for development, allowing other software to be built against it.

Step 2: Downloading extension.

Once the dependencies are installed, we can download the extension.

To know the version number and check its requirement, just go to PECL :: The PHP Extension Community Library and search for 'mcrypt' in their search options, It will provide that extension details.

I have used the latest available stable version of day of writing this blog(version 1.0.6). Now, we can download the extension package using wget command.

wget  https://pecl.php.net/get/mcrypt-1.0.6.tgz

Once the file is downloaded, we can extract the files using tar command.

tar -zxvf mcrypt-1.0.6.tgz

Step3: Install the extension.

We can now install the extension by running below commands. Make sure to replace PHP version with your required one(Here we have used php80rc).

cd mcrypt-1.0.6

make clean

/RunCloud/Packages/php80rc/bin/phpize --clean

/RunCloud/Packages/php80rc/bin/phpize

./configure
 --with-php-config=/RunCloud/Packages/php80rc/bin/php-config 
--with-libdir=lib64 CFLAGS='-O2 -fPIE -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat 
-Werror=format-security -Wall -pedantic -fsigned-char 
-fno-strict-aliasing'

make install

Please note, last command may take sometime to finish. Please run below command to finish the process.

echo "extension=mcrypt.so" > /etc/php80rc/conf.d/mcrypt.ini

Step 4: Restart the service.

Now, we can restart the php service to reflect the changes.

systemctl restart php80rc-fpm

Step 5: Verify the extension is installed correctly.

We can check installed extensions and check whether the Mcrypt is being listed there. Please run following command.

/RunCloud/Packages/php80rc/bin/php -m | grep -i mcrypt

conclusion

In conclusion, installing mcrypt can be useful for developers who need to encrypt and decrypt data in their applications. However, it is important to note that mcrypt is no longer maintained and may have security vulnerabilities. Therefore, it is recommended to use other encryption libraries, such as OpenSSL or Sodium, which are actively maintained and have better security features. If you do decide to use mcrypt, make sure to use the latest version and implement proper security measures to protect your data.