PHP-FPM(8)

📦 version 8.3.36, in alpine 3.24

💅 PHP-FPM(8) — the php-fpm page, but make it make sense

okay bestie, welcome to the php-fpm manual page — that's the PHP FastCGI Process Manager, aka the thing that actually keeps your PHP running in the background so your webserver can vibe. this is the PHP-FPM(8) page and i'm gonna walk you through every single flag like we're studying together at 2am 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

php-fpm — PHP FastCGI Process Manager, a.k.a. 'PHP-FPM' 👑

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

php-fpm [options]

that's it. that's the whole summoning ritual. ✨

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so PHP is this hugely popular general-purpose scripting language, and it's especially built for Web development and can be embedded into HTML. no cap, it's everywhere.

php-fpm is a variant of PHP that runs in the background as a daemon, just listening for CGI requests like a very patient bestie. output gets logged to /var/log/php-fpm.log 📝

most of the actual settings live in the config file, and that file is /etc/php83/php-fpm.conf. by default, php-fpm responds to CGI requests by listening on localhost http port 9000. so php-fpm expects your webserver to forward all requests for .php files to port 9000 — meaning yes, you should go edit your webserver config file appropriately. it's giving teamwork, honestly 🤝

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -C — do NOT chdir to the script's directory
  • --php-ini path|file, -c path|file — look for the php.ini file in the directory path, or just use the specified file
  • --no-php-ini, -n — no php.ini file will be used at all, we're going feral 🙈
  • --define foo[=bar], -d foo[=bar] — define the INI entry foo with value bar
  • -e — generate extended information for debugger/profiler
  • --help, -h — this help 💖
  • --info, -i — PHP information and configuration
  • --modules, -m — show compiled in modules
  • --version, -v — version number
  • --prefix path, -p — specify an alternative prefix path (the default is /usr)
  • --pid file, -g — specify the PID file location.
  • --fpm-config file, -y — specify an alternative path to the FastCGI process manager configuration file (the default is /etc/php83/php-fpm.conf)
  • --test, -t — test the FPM configuration file and exit. if you call it twice (-tt), the configuration is dumped before exiting 📋
  • --daemonize, -D — force it to run in the background and ignore the daemonize option from the configuration file.
  • --nodaemonize, -F — force it to stay in the foreground and ignore the daemonize option from the configuration file.
  • --force-stderr, -O — force output to stderr in nodaemonize even if stderr is not a TTY.
  • --allow-to-run-as-root, -R — allow the pool to run as root (disabled by default) 🔥

✨ FILES ✨

  • php-fpm.conf — the configuration file for the php-fpm daemon.
  • php.ini — the standard php configuration file.

✨ EXAMPLES ✨

okay so depending on how your unix system manages its main process, you've got options:

for any unix systems which use init.d for their main process manager, you should use the init script provided to start and stop the php-fpm daemon:

sudo /etc/init.d/php-fpm start

for any unix systems which use systemd for their main process manager, you should use the unit file provided to start and stop the php-fpm daemon:

sudo systemctl start php-fpm.service

and if your installation has no appropriate init script? just launch php-fpm with no arguments, bestie. it'll launch as a daemon (background process) by default. the file /var/run/php-fpm.pid determines whether php-fpm is already up and running. ⭐

once it's started, php-fpm then responds to several POSIX signals:

SIGINT,SIGTERM      immediate termination
SIGQUIT             graceful stop
SIGUSR1             re-open log file
SIGUSR2             graceful reload of all workers + reload of
fpm conf/binary
ngl, SIGINT/SIGTERM is the "we're done here, immediately" vibe, while SIGQUIT is the polite graceful stop. pick your energy 💅

✨ TIPS ✨

the PHP-FPM CGI daemon will work well with most popular webservers, including Apache2, lighttpd and nginx. it's very "gets along with everyone" of it 🦋

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

✨ BUGS ✨

you can view the list of known bugs or report any new bug you found at: https://github.com/php/php-src/issues 🐛

✨ AUTHORS ✨

PHP-FPM SAPI was written by Andrei Nigmatulin. the mailing-lists are highload-php-en (English) and highload-php-ru (Russian). 👑

The PHP Group: Thies C. Arntzen, Stig Bakken, Andi Gutmans, Rasmus Lerdorf, Sam Ruby, Sascha Schumann, Zeev Suraski, Jim Winstead, Andrei Zmievski.

a List of active developers can be found here: http://www.php.net/credits.php

and last but not least, PHP was developed with the help of a huge amount of contributors all around the world. 🌈

✨ VERSION INFORMATION ✨

this manpage describes php-fpm, version 8.3.36.

Copyright © The PHP Group Copyright (c) 2007-2009, Andrei Nigmatulin

this source file is subject to version 3.01 of the PHP license, that is bundled with this package in the file LICENSE, and is available through the world-wide-web at the following url: https://www.php.net/license/3_01.txt

if you did not receive a copy of the PHP license and are unable to obtain it through the world-wide-web, please send a note to license@php.net so we can mail you a copy immediately. 💌

and that's the whole page, bestie — slayed, no skips, every flag intact 🎀

sign-off: brought to you by The PHP Group, dated 2024, and yes this is still the PHP-FPM(8) page 💜✨

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