Question When will PHP 8.1 be available?

[Hans | Pixel Creation]

PHP 8.1 is about to be released on November 25th. We're currently developing an application using this PHP version. How soon after the release of PHP 8.1 will this version be available to install in Plesk? Will it be the same day or will we have to wait a few days or even weeks?

 

[IgorG]

At best, we will release this before the New Year. At worst - after.

 

[Hans | Pixel Creation]

Thank you for the quick reply—even though it's not what I would've liked to hear.

Out of curiousity: In theory this should not be much harder than offering a new binary to install. trecWhat's the reason this can't be done earlier?

 

[IgorG]

First, we don't release new features outside of new releases. They are always tied to the new release date.
Secondly, the adoption of new versions of PHP immediately after release is very low until the time when large vendors such as WordPress, Joomla and so on begin to support this PHP version. Moreover, our Support Team will face a lot of problems when people try to install WordPress on a new PHP version we released, but not supported by WordPress yet. Thus, the efforts and work of our developers to release the new PHP version becomes impractical and too expensive for us.

 

[Hans | Pixel Creation]

In the meantime, for whoever reads this:

Both Rector and Polyfill are worth looking into.

For us either of these weren't an option because they don't support PHP 8.1's enums (yet?).

As soon as 8.1 launches I will use this How to add a custom PHP version in Plesk for Linux guide.

 

[Hans | Pixel Creation]

I can confirm that following the mentioned guide in combination with this guide for installing custom PHP versions on CentOS from Remi's repo has helped me set up a website using PHP 8.1 successfully.

 

[MikhailBSH]

Any news about PHP 8.1? There are some reports that it is considerably faster than PHP 8.0

 

[IgorG]

Any news about PHP 8.1?

Support of PHP 8.1 will be released soon.

 

[IgorG]

Change Log for Plesk Obsidian

Find out about changes, additions and updates to Plesk Obsidian on an iteration to iteration basis.

docs.plesk.com

PHP 8.1 is now available in the Plesk installer.
Note: At the moment, PHP 8.1 is not present in the set of recommended components.

 

[Hans | Pixel Creation]

Amazing! Thanks for the work and for the quick update in this thread. Much appreciated!

 

[Pau1Phi11ips]

Change Log for Plesk Obsidian

Find out about changes, additions and updates to Plesk Obsidian on an iteration to iteration basis.

docs.plesk.com

PHP 8.1 is now available in the Plesk installer.
Note: At the moment, PHP 8.1 is not present in the set of recommended components.

Thanks, appreciate the work getting 8.1 released.
I was kinda hoping AVIF support would be coming with 8.1 though: PHP 8.1: GD: AVIF image support

Is this on the radar?

 

[IgorG]

Is this on the radar?

No, but you can submit a related feature request at least: Feature Suggestions: Top (1962 ideas) – Your Ideas for Plesk

 

[Pau1Phi11ips]

No, but you can submit a related feature request at least: Feature Suggestions: Top (1962 ideas) – Your Ideas for Plesk

I guess this is gonna be like WebP support and gonna have to wait 2 years for about 10 characters to be added to the PHP build script.

Sorry, I know it's not your fault. Just frustrating.

 

[IgorG]

I have compiled gd.so module with AVIF support for the current version of Plesk PHP 8.1.2 version (OS Ubuntu 20.04):

# cat gdinfo.php
<?php
var_dump(gd_info());
?>

# /opt/plesk/php/8.1/bin/php gdinfo.php
array(15) {
["GD Version"]=>
string(26) "bundled (2.1.0 compatible)"
["FreeType Support"]=>
bool(true)
["FreeType Linkage"]=>
string(13) "with freetype"
["GIF Read Support"]=>
bool(true)
["GIF Create Support"]=>
bool(true)
["JPEG Support"]=>
bool(true)
["PNG Support"]=>
bool(true)
["WBMP Support"]=>
bool(true)
["XPM Support"]=>
bool(true)
["XBM Support"]=>
bool(true)
["WebP Support"]=>
bool(true)
["BMP Support"]=>
bool(true)
["AVIF Support"]=>
bool(true)
["TGA Read Support"]=>
bool(true)
["JIS-mapped Japanese Font Support"]=>
bool(false)
}

You can try to backup the original module file with

# mv /opt/plesk/php/8.1/lib/php/modules/gd.so /opt/plesk/php/8.1/lib/php/modules/gd.so_orig

And then place attached to /opt/plesk/php/8.1/lib/php/modules/

But note, that it was compiled by me for testing purposes and I do not guarantee that it will work without any problems.
It was my personal initiative and interest.

 

[svatopluk.hastik]

I have compiled gd.so module with AVIF support for the current version of Plesk PHP 8.1.2 version (OS Ubuntu 20.04):

# cat gdinfo.php
<?php
var_dump(gd_info());
?>

# /opt/plesk/php/8.1/bin/php gdinfo.php
array(15) {
["GD Version"]=>
string(26) "bundled (2.1.0 compatible)"
["FreeType Support"]=>
bool(true)
["FreeType Linkage"]=>
string(13) "with freetype"
["GIF Read Support"]=>
bool(true)
["GIF Create Support"]=>
bool(true)
["JPEG Support"]=>
bool(true)
["PNG Support"]=>
bool(true)
["WBMP Support"]=>
bool(true)
["XPM Support"]=>
bool(true)
["XBM Support"]=>
bool(true)
["WebP Support"]=>
bool(true)
["BMP Support"]=>
bool(true)
["AVIF Support"]=>
bool(true)
["TGA Read Support"]=>
bool(true)
["JIS-mapped Japanese Font Support"]=>
bool(false)
}

You can try to backup the original module file with

# mv /opt/plesk/php/8.1/lib/php/modules/gd.so /opt/plesk/php/8.1/lib/php/modules/gd.so_orig

And then place attached to /opt/plesk/php/8.1/lib/php/modules/

But note, that it was compiled by me for testing purposes and I do not guarantee that it will work without any problems.
It was my personal initiative and interest.

Thanks for gd.so.zip. Unfortunatelly it is not working with Debian 9. We host Plesk on Debian 9.

 

[IgorG]

Unfortunatelly it is not working with Debian 9. We host Plesk on Debian 9.

Sorry, I compiled this for Ubuntu on my own initiative and it took me quite a lot of time and effort. I suggest you try to compile it for Debian 9 yourself or wait for official support from Plesk.

 

[ClaesN]

What is the reason for this "delay" of supporting AVIF-images in PHP 8.1+ in Plesk? Its been out quite a long time now and we see lots of websites using it already. Even web tools everywhere that can utilize .avif images?

It looks like its just to add a flag and parameter PHP 8.1: GD: AVIF image support

Are there any easy steps to follow to create a "special" PHP 8.1 in my Plesk to get AVIF-support?

 

[Peter Debik]

What is the reason for this "delay" of supporting AVIF-images in PHP 8.1+ in Plesk?

Maybe it's the very low demand and plenty of alternative image formats that are available. Please vote for the feature here to boost it:

AVIF support

Can you please prepare GD library with AVIF support. It is supported from PHP version 8.1 https://php.watch/versions/8.1/gd-avif

plesk.uservoice.com

Its been out quite a long time now and we see lots of websites using it already. Even web tools everywhere that can utilize .avif images?

You mean 12 other image formats that are supported are not yet enough so that the world urgently needs a new one?

It looks like its just to add a flag and parameter PHP 8.1: GD: AVIF image support

If IgorG previously did it and commented that it took him quite a while , it for sure takes a lot more to put it into a production ready PHP than to set a flag somehwere. We must also take into account that many users are not on the newest operating systems. And according to the AVIF docs: "It depends on libavif package, which may not be available in default repositories of older operating system versions." So it needs to be done for all operating systems supported and tested. For many that are still used by large user groups such as CentOS 7 libbavif does not seem to be available. This will need to be checked in detail, though.

Are there any easy steps to follow to create a "special" PHP 8.1 in my Plesk to get AVIF-support?

No, unfortunately not.

 

[ClaesN]

Maybe it's the very low demand and plenty of alternative image formats that are available. Please vote for the feature here to boost it:

AVIF support

Can you please prepare GD library with AVIF support. It is supported from PHP version 8.1 https://php.watch/versions/8.1/gd-avif

plesk.uservoice.com

You mean 12 other image formats that are supported are not yet enough so that the world urgently needs a new one?


If IgorG previously did it and commented that it took him quite a while , it for sure takes a lot more to put it into a production ready PHP than to set a flag somehwere. We must also take into account that many users are not on the newest operating systems. And according to the AVIF docs: "It depends on libavif package, which may not be available in default repositories of older operating system versions." So it needs to be done for all operating systems supported and tested. For many that are still used by large user groups such as CentOS 7 libbavif does not seem to be available. This will need to be checked in detail, though.


No, unfortunately not.

I hear you and I am sorry for making it into something "simple" without knowing enough!

Just would like to add though that AV1 (image and video) is not just "some new image file format hype" as it has been added with support on hardware level on all modern Intel and AMD cpus. Its also used by Netflix, Youtube, Meta, Playstation and more for their streaming. Also Zoom and other video call. So its a little bit more than a quick hype.

Also all browsers Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, Edge, Brave and Vivaldi all support it now (as well as all mobile browser)

I ran a test here of JPG, WEBP and AVIF on a image file:

JPG: compression_test1_jpg.jpg - 72.3kb
WebP: compression_test1_webp.webp - 32kb
AVIF: compression_test1_avif.avif - 12.4kb

JPG looks really worst of these and AVIF is just 17% size of a "Save for web Photoshop at 60 jpg" so it seems to do a very nice job.

I have voted on this feature on the link you added! I hope this will get some attention soon! Love Plesk! thanks guys!

 

[ClaesN]

Perhaps some parameter to enable it would be preferred so that its not enabled by default and Plesk users start having issues. Like "Enable experimental AVIF support" (with a tooltip explanation) in PHP settings or so.