How to install the php-mcrypt module on a Plesk server

Updated January 19, 2023 19:07

Plesk for Linux kb: how-to ABT: Group A

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Plesk for Linux

Question

mcrypt module is missing for PHP in Tools & Settings > PHP Settings > <PHP version>.
How to install the php-mcrypt module on a Plesk server?

Answer

Plesk PHP handlers up to 7.1 version are shipped with the mcrypt module enabled by default.
PHP handlers provided by Plesk can be installed via Plesk Installer and selected at Domains > example.com > PHP settings.

For other PHP handler versions, mcrypt module must be compiled manually:

For Plesk PHP 7.2 and later versions

Note: mcrypt extension was recently updated and now supports PHP 7.2 and newer. Vote for this feature suggestion for mcrypt support out of the box.

Note: the same procedure can be applied for PHP 7.3 and 7.4

Connect to the server via SSH
Install the required dependencies:
- On RHEL, CentOS and CloudLinux:
  
  # yum install -y epel-release
  
  # yum install --enablerepo=epel -y plesk-php72-devel gcc libmcrypt-devel make
- On Debian and Ubuntu:
  
  # apt install -y plesk-php72-dev gcc libmcrypt-dev make libc6-dev
Update pecl.php.net protocols:

# /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/pecl channel-update pecl.php.net
Build the mcrypt extension:

# /opt/plesk/php/7.2/bin/pecl install mcrypt-1.0.1

Note: for PHP 7.3 use mcrypt-1.0.2, and mcrypt-1.0.4 for PHP 7.4
for example: /opt/plesk/php/7.4/bin/pecl install mcrypt
Enable the extension in PHP configuration:

# echo 'extension=mcrypt.so' > /opt/plesk/php/7.2/etc/php.d/mcrypt.ini
Refresh information about installed PHP modules

# plesk bin php_handler --reread
To apply changes reload web server Apache (or nginx if Apache is not used) and PHP-FPM service:
On Ubuntu, Debian:

# service apache2 reload
# service plesk-php72-fpm reload

On CentOS:

# service httpd reload
# service plesk-php72-fpm reload
(optional) to make mcrypt manageable via Tools & Settings > PHP Settings > PHP 7.2 > Extensions tab, open php.ini tab under the same path and add extension=mcrypt.so under Dynamic Extensions section. Click OK.

For PHP provided by OS vendor

Connect to a Plesk server via SSH
Install the module:
- On RHEL-based distributions (RHEL, CentOS, CloudLinux):
  
  # yum install -y epel-release
  # yum install -y php-mcrypt
- on Debian-based distributions (Debian, Ubuntu):
  
  # apt-get install php5-mcrypt -y || apt-get install mcrypt php7.0-mcrypt -y || apt-get install php-mcrypt -y
Refresh information about installed PHP modules

# plesk bin php_handler --reread
Reload PHP-FPM and Apache (or nginx if Apache is not used) to make the module available for websites:

# systemctl reload php-fpm php7.0-fpm apache2 httpd

Solution to fix "Autoconf version 2.68 or higher is required"

Note: In case of below the error

CONFIG_TEXT: error: Autoconf version 2.68 or higher is required
/usr/bin/m4 failed with exit status: 63

first following steps should be applied to replace Autconf version 2.63 with Autoconf version 2.68 provided by Plesk:

# mv /usr/bin/autoconf{,.bkps}
# ln -s /usr/bin/autoconf268 /usr/bin/autoconf
# mv /usr/bin/autom4te{,.bkps}
# ln -s /usr/bin/autom4te268 /usr/bin/autom4te

Comments

16 comments

Jacob Bowen July 31, 2019 22:16

Mcrypt updated to 1.0.2 which is fully compatible with 7.2 and 7.3. Please update

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Ivan Postnikov August 01, 2019 16:11

Hello @Jacob,

Thank you, I've created a corresponding feature suggestion: https://plesk.uservoice.com/forums/184549-feature-suggestions/suggestions/38282788-add-mcrypt-module-to-plesk-php-7-2-and-newer?

Feel free to vote for and comment it.

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eurogood August 27, 2019 18:14

It seems like https://github.com/phpseclib/mcrypt_compat might be the ideal option when mcrypt isn't available.

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Daria Gavrilova August 28, 2019 04:50

Hello @eurogood,

Thank you for your input.

Indeed mcrypt_compat can be used, however, please note that it was not tested with Plesk yet and mcrypt_compat can be installed on your own risk only.

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VG January 15, 2020 10:59

Hi,

This article it's incomplete. In order to build the library, C++ compiler is needed. If you don't have it, builder will fail. Btw, today the stable working version is 1.0.3.

Adapted from Stackoverflow thread:

Install dependencies and mcrypt library with pecl

 sudo apt-get -y install gcc make autoconf libc-dev pkg-config
 sudo apt-get -y install libmcrypt-dev plesk-php72-devel
 sudo pecl install mcrypt-1.0.3

When you are shown the prompt

libmcrypt prefix? [autodetect] :

Press [Enter] to autodetect.

After success installing mcrypt trought pecl, you should add mcrypt.so extension to php.ini.

The output will look like this:

...
Build process completed successfully
Installing '/opt/plesk/php/7.2/lib/php/modules/mcrypt.so'    ---->   this is our path to mcrypt extension lib
install ok: channel://pecl.php.net/mcrypt-1.0.3
configuration option "php_ini" is not set to php.ini location
You should add "extension=mcrypt.so" to php.ini

Enable the extension in PHP configuration:

 echo 'extension=mcrypt.so' > /opt/plesk/php/7.2/etc/php.d/mcrypt.ini

Refresh and Reload

 sudo plesk bin php_handler --reread
 sudo service apache2 reload
 sudo service plesk-php72-fpm reload

Check that everything is working

php -i | grep "mcrypt"

Cheers

Ivan Postnikov January 22, 2020 12:08

Hello,

Thank you for the message, this may be useful for other Pleskians.

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ibrahim sayar June 12, 2020 10:53

nice content, i tried it works !

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Ryan Johnson July 26, 2020 21:05 (Edited July 26, 2020 21:07)
This is out of date by a long shot, even though it says you updated it a month ago. Plesk 7.4.7 uses mcrypt-1.0.3 when installing via pecl:
```
# /opt/plesk/php/7.4/bin/pecl install mcrypt-1.0.3
```
Also, your instruction assumes the user uses apache2, when this is a bad assumption. I use nginx, because Apache is old and slow and limited. Corrections:
```
# service nginx reload
# service plesk-php74-fpm reload
```
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Alisa Kasyanova July 30, 2020 14:35

@Ryan Johnson

Thank you for your comment, I have updated the article accordingly.

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Webbing August 24, 2020 13:24

On the 2nd line for CentOS

yum install --enablerepo=epel -y plesk-php72-devel gcc libmcrypt-devel

... you need to add the "make" library well in order to be able to compile.

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Ivan Postnikov September 02, 2020 15:35

Hello Webbing

"make" is included in the minimal CentOS installation, for example: https://gist.github.com/ozuma/552276c5d8e38b72f91d

I've also verified it on a test server.

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Webbing September 02, 2020 20:18

Ivan Postnikov apparently not if you are installing it on CentOS 8.2. I ran into this issue last week...

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Ivan Postnikov September 07, 2020 12:36

Webbing

Thank you for the clarification.

I've updated the article with "make" installation. If make is already present, it will be updated.

BTW, on a test server, I have CentOS 8.1.1911 and "make" was present =)

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Md Rasel Khan February 02, 2021 17:30

Thanks!

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Francesco October 22, 2021 21:26

Hi everyone,

When i try to do

"echo 'extension=mcrypt.so' > /opt/plesk/php/7.2/etc/php.d/mcrypt.ini" or "sudo cho 'extension=mcrypt.so' > /opt/plesk/php/7.2/etc/php.d/mcrypt.ini"

i get this problem:

"-bash: /opt/plesk/php/7.4/etc/php.d/mcrypt.ini: Permission denied" does anyone have the solution ?

i'm losing my mind to insta mcrypt :(

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Lau Fai October 18, 2022 08:41

im using ubuntu, which i can't install php-mcrypt.

there's no tutorial about php-mcrypt on Ubuntu

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