Unable to install PHP 7 with Homebrew on macOS Sierra - php

Question

I'm trying to setup Laravel's Valet which, as a dependency, requires PHP 7. When I try to install PHP 7 with Homebrew I get the following error:
Configuring SAPI modules
checking for Apache 2.0 handler-module support via DSO through APXS...
Sorry, I cannot run apxs. Possible reasons follow:
1. Perl is not installed
2. apxs was not found. Try to pass the path using --with-apxs2=/path/to/apxs
3. Apache was not built using --enable-so (the apxs usage page is displayed)
The output of /usr/sbin/apxs follows:
apxs:Error: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/OSX10.12.xctoolchain/usr/local/bin/apr-1-config not found!.
configure: error: Aborting
READ THIS: https://git.io/brew-troubleshooting
If reporting this issue please do so at (not Homebrew/brew):
https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-php/issues
These open issues may also help:
php70-dbase https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-php/issues/3508
php70-intl not found https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-php/issues/3591
php70-opcache install issue https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-php/issues/3586
Problem installing php70-mcrypt, php70-opcache, php70-xdebug on El Capitan https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-php/issues/3587
Add php70-zmq formula https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-php/pull/3474
Problem installing homebrew/php/php70-imagick https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-php/issues/3571
Install PHP70: Incompatible library version https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-php/issues/3444
brew install php70-redis https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-php/issues/2762
Allow --enable-redis-igbinary for php70-redis https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-php/pull/3473
Add head formula for php70-uploadprogress https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-php/pull/3178
This is on a fresh install of MacOS Sierra (actual release, not a beta) with a fresh install of Homebrew (updated). I have installed, ran and agreed to the Xcode licensing agreement.
I have no idea what these errors mean. How can I fix them?

Answer 1

Right I've figured it out. I'm posting the steps to successfully install the require components below in case anybody else stumbles upon this issue:
1). make sure Homebrew is up to date:
brew update
2). Fix the PHP 7 error by making sure Xcode is installed and then typing the following into the Terminal:
brew install apr apr-util
sudo mkdir -p /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/OSX10.12.xctoolchain/usr/local/bin/
sudo ln -s /usr/local/opt/apr/bin/apr-1-config /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/OSX10.12.xctoolchain/usr/local/bin/
sudo ln -s /usr/local/opt/apr-util/bin/apu-1-config /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/OSX10.12.xctoolchain/usr/local/bin/
3). Run the following command (otherwise the PHP installation will complain about missing libz):
xcode-select --install
4). You can now install PHP 7 with Homebrew:
brew install homebrew/php/php70

Answer 2

It may also be important for those using the macOS-delivered installation of Apache with PHP via Homebrew that (quote from Homebrew php70 install):
With the release of macOS Sierra the Apache module is now not built by default. If you want to build it on your system you have to install php with the --with-apache option. See brew options php70 for more details.

Answer 3

I used the following commands to make it work.
brew tap homebrew/dupes
brew tap homebrew/versions
brew tap homebrew/homebrew-php
brew update && brew install apr apr-util
brew link apr-util --force
brew link apr --force
which apu-1-config
which apr-1-config
sudo mkdir -p /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/OSX10.12.xctoolchain/usr/local/bin/
sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/apu-1-config /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/OSX10.12.xctoolchain/usr/local/bin/
sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/apr-1-config /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/OSX10.12.xctoolchain/usr/local/bin/
brew install php70

Answer 4

Here is how I upgrade PHP 5.6 to 7.2 in my Macbook Pro (macOS Sierra)
a. Update the brew package first.
$ brew update && brew upgrade
b. Unlink the old version of PHP if it was installed with Homebrew.
$ brew unlink php56
c. Install the new version of PHP.
$ brew install php72
After installation, it shows:
To enable PHP in Apache add the following to httpd.conf (/etc/apache2) and restart Apache:
d. Using vim edit httpd.conf of apache2.
$ sudo vim /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
Search “php5_module” then commend out the statements as follows:
#Comment out the PHP5 module
#LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache2/libphp5.so
Add the commands as follows:
#Enable PHP 7 module
LoadModule php7_module /usr/local/opt/php/lib/httpd/modules/libphp7.so
<FilesMatch \.php$>
SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
</FilesMatch>
e. Finally, check DirectoryIndex includes index.php
DirectoryIndex index.php index.html
The php.ini and php-fpm.ini file can be found in:
/usr/local/etc/php/7.2/
f. Restart Apache service
$ sudo apachectl restart
g. check the php version:
$ php -v
PHP 7.2.7 (cli) (built: Jun 22 2018 06:29:00) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies
Done!
Please visit the article "Upgrade PHP version from 5.6 to 7.2 on macOS Sierra (10.12)"
of my blog for more information!
Cheer!