Reason

I and a lot developer work with multiple project at same time, sometimes we are need working with multiple php version at same time. We don't want to run multiple XAMPP with different ports. So i created this project to help anybody need to run multiple php version at same times with only 1 XAMPP

How it work?

XAMPP use mod_php to run php, that mean you only work with 1 php version with xampp. To resolve this, i use mod_fcgi instead mod_php. With mod_fcgi we can redirect request to correctly php version we want.

Install on window

1. Download XAMPP. this guide use XAMPP 7.2.5 x86

2. Download mod_fcgi . XAMPP 7.2.5 x86 use Apache/2.4.33 (Win32), so i will download mod_fcgid-2.3.9-win32-VC15

3. Install XAMPP. for example i installed to C:/xampp. Extract mod_fcgid-2.3.9-win32-VC15.zip and copy file mod_fcgid.so to C:/xampp/apache/modules

4. Download php version you want from https://windows.php.net/downloads/releases/archives/. Unzip this to folder C:/xampp. for example i will download php-5.6.35-nts-Win32-VC11-x86 and unzip to C:/xampp/php5635. rename php5635/php.ini-development to php5635/php.ini and add this line to end of php.ini

    [custom_php_variable]
    extension_dir       = "C:/xampp/php5635/ext/"
    session.save_path   = "C:/xampp/tmp/"
    upload_tmp_dir      = "C:/xampp/tmp/"
    sys_temp_dir        = "C:/xampp/tmp/"
    soap.wsdl_cache_dir = "C:/xampp/tmp/"
   

5. Copy directory apache to C:/xampp/apache and edit file C:/xampp/apache/conf/php.d/vars.conf

   # Change this to your xampp on your computer. for this example, it is C:/xampp
   Define XAMPP_DIR        "C:/xampp"
   
   # In step #4, i downloaded php 5.6.35, i will add path to here
   Define PHP_56_CGI       "${XAMPP_DIR}/php5635/php-cgi.exe"
   Define PHP_56_RC        "${XAMPP_DIR}/php5635/"
   
   # If you download more php versions, just add more lines here, for example php 5.6.30
   # Define PHP_5630_CGI   "${XAMPP_DIR}/php5630/php-cgi.exe"
   # Define PHP_5630_RC    "${XAMPP_DIR}/php5630/"
   
   # The default php version of XAMPP 7.2.5 x86 is php 7.2.5
   Define PHP_72_CGI       "${XAMPP_DIR}/php/php-cgi.exe"
   Define PHP_72_RC        "${XAMPP_DIR}/php"
   
   # This will set default php version when run with xampp
   Define PHP_CGI          ${PHP_72_CGI}
   Define PHP_RC           ${PHP_72_RC}
   

6. Edit file C:/xampp/apache/conf/extra/httpd-xampp.conf. Comment lines and add more 1 line Include "conf/php.d/multi-php-versions.conf"

   #
   # PHP-Module setup
   #
   #LoadFile "C:/xampp/php/php7ts.dll"
   #LoadFile "C:/xampp/php/libpq.dll"
   #LoadModule php7_module "C:/xampp/php/php7apache2_4.dll"
   
   #<FilesMatch "\.php$">
   #    SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
   #</FilesMatch>
   #<FilesMatch "\.phps$">
   #    SetHandler application/x-httpd-php-source
   #</FilesMatch>
   
   #
   # PHP-CGI setup
   #
   #<FilesMatch "\.php$">
   #    SetHandler application/x-httpd-php-cgi
   #</FilesMatch>
   #<IfModule actions_module>
   #    Action application/x-httpd-php-cgi "/php-cgi/php-cgi.exe"
   #</IfModule>
   
   # Load php multiple versions config 
   Include "conf/php.d/multi-php-versions.conf"
   

7. Create your project with vhost: for example i will create project php-multiple-version with php 5.6 and php 7.2 Create vhost file C:/xampp/apache/conf/vhost/php72-php-multiple-version.local.conf

   <VirtualHost *:80>
       ServerAdmin [email protected]
       DocumentRoot "C:/Projects/php-multiple-version/"
       ServerName php72-php-multiple-version.local
       ErrorLog "logs/php72-php-multiple-version.local-error.log"
       CustomLog "logs/php72-php-multiple-version.local.log" common
   	
   	FcgidInitialEnv PHPRC ${PHP_72_RC}
   	<Directory "C:/Projects/php-multiple-version/">
   		Define PHP_CGI 			${PHP_71_CGI}
   		Include "conf/php.d/php_cgi.conf"
   	</Directory>
   </VirtualHost>
   

   Create vhost file C:/xampp/apache/conf/vhost/php56-php-multiple-version.local.conf

   <VirtualHost *:80>
       ServerAdmin [email protected]
       DocumentRoot "C:/Projects/php-multiple-version/"
       ServerName php56-php-multiple-version.local
       ErrorLog "logs/php56-php-multiple-version.local-error.log"
       CustomLog "logs/php56-php-multiple-version.local.log" common
   	
   	FcgidInitialEnv PHPRC ${PHP_56_RC}
   	<Directory "C:/Projects/php-multiple-version/">
   		Define PHP_CGI 			${PHP_56_CGI}
   		Include "conf/php.d/php_cgi.conf"
   	</Directory>
   </VirtualHost>
   

   add to end of file C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

   	127.0.0.1       php72-php-multiple-version.local
   	127.0.0.1       php56-php-multiple-version.local
   

   create file C:/Projects/php-multiple-version/index.php

   <?php phpinfo();

   Start xampp and open your browser: http://php72-php-multiple-version.local and http://php56-php-multiple-version.local

NOTE

1. When stop apache from XAMPP control panel, php-cgi still running in background. to stop it, run this command via cmd

   taskkill /F /IM php-cgi.exe /T
   
   

2. If you want to run php by command, you can create file .bat like that: php72.bat

   C:/xampp/php-7.2.0/php.exe %*    

   and run to test:

   php72 -r "phpinfo();"