How to update / upgrade to PHP 7.3 on Debian 9?

This short tutorial is used to install PHP 7.3 on Debian 9 and Debian 8. PHP 7.3 fixes several bugs, adds new features, and fixes obsolete issues in your dependencies.

Update your Debian VPS

First of all, you must have your system updated.



sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade -y

Repository

Add the PHP 7.3 repository





sudo apt -y install lsb-release apt-transport-https ca-certificates

sudo wget -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/php.gpg https://packages.sury.org/php/apt.gpg

echo "deb https://packages.sury.org/php/ $(lsb_release -sc) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/php.list

Update your system again

The final step to installing PHP 7.3 on Debian 9 and Debian 8 is to update your system again, but with the dependencies added:

sudo apt update

Check your system's current version



php -v



PHP 7.3.29-1+0~20210701.86+debian9~1.gbp7ad6eb (cli) (built: Jul 1 2021 16:11:36) ( NTS ) Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group Zend Engine v3.3.29, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies with Zend OPcache v7.3.29-1+0~20210701.86+debian9~1.gbp7ad6eb, Copyright (c) 1999-2018, by Zend Technologies

(Optional) Add libraries or extensions.

Find the libraries you need and install them just like in other versions of PHP.

 sudo apt install php7.3-