If you're working on macOS and need to install Imagick for PHP 8.3, you might run into issues where the installation defaults to an older version of PHP, such as PHP 8.0. In this post, I'll walk you through the steps to ensure Imagick is installed and properly configured for PHP 8.3.

Step 1: Install PHP 8.3 via Homebrew

First, let's ensure PHP 8.3 is installed and set as the default version.

1. Install PHP 8.3:

   brew install [email protected]

1. Link PHP 8.3 to make it the default version on your system:

   brew link --overwrite --force [email protected]

1. Verify PHP 8.3 is active by checking the version:

   php -v

You should see PHP 8.3.x as the output.

Step 2: Install pkg-config and ImageMagick

Before installing the Imagick PHP extension, we need to install pkg-config and ImageMagick:

1. Install pkg-config and ImageMagick via Homebrew:

   brew install pkg-config imagemagick

This step ensures that the necessary libraries and configurations for Imagick are available on your system.

Step 3: Install Imagick for PHP 8.3

Now that PHP 8.3 is set as the default version, we can install the Imagick extension.

1. Use PECL to install Imagick for PHP 8.3. Since the default command may still point to PHP 8.0, we need to ensure the correct php-config for PHP 8.3 is used:

   /opt/homebrew/opt/[email protected]/bin/pecl install imagick

1. If PECL doesn’t work as expected, or you're manually installing, explicitly specify the correct php-config during the Imagick installation process:

   /private/tmp/pear/temp/imagick/configure --with-php-config=/opt/homebrew/opt/[email protected]/bin/php-config --with-imagick

Step 4: Enable Imagick in PHP 8.3

Once Imagick is installed, it needs to be enabled in PHP’s configuration file (php.ini).

1. Open the php.ini file for PHP 8.3:

   nano /opt/homebrew/etc/php/8.3/php.ini

1. Add the following line to enable the Imagick extension:

   extension=imagick.so

Step 5: Restart PHP or Web Server

After enabling the Imagick extension, restart your web server or PHP service for the changes to take effect:

• For Apache:

  sudo apachectl restart

• For PHP-FPM:

  sudo brew services restart [email protected]

Step 6: Verify Imagick Installation

Finally, verify that the Imagick extension has been successfully installed and enabled. You can check using the following command:

php -m | grep imagick

Alternatively, you can create a PHP script with phpinfo() to check if the Imagick extension is loaded.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can successfully install and enable the Imagick extension for PHP 8.3 on macOS. Ensuring the correct php-config is used is key to avoiding version conflicts and ensuring that Imagick works with PHP 8.3.

Feel free to comment if you encounter any issues or have questions regarding the setup!