PHP missing cURL and XDebug after upgrade

Question

I just upgraded to Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS and went to check on my local apache2 installation by adding phpinfo() to an index file.

I do not see an entry for cURL or for XDebug.

Here's what I did:

1. Again, I checked phpinfo() and no curl or xdebug options are shown.
2. I went to /etc/php/7.1/apache2/php.ini and uncommented the following line extension=php_curl.dll.
3. I then restarted apache.
4. Also, my phpinfo() shows Loaded Configuration File /etc/php/7.1/apache2/php.ini and THAT is the one I've been editing.

However, WordPress still reports the following: PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function curl_init().

I'm thinking I MUST be editing the wrong ini file.

Any ideas? I'm dead in the water here. 😥

Answer 1

The short answer is, if you are not finding the curl and/or xdebug extension/modules after an upgrade of the OS, you have to reinstall them.

In Debian compatible distributions such as Ubuntu the commands are:

sudo apt-get install php7.1-curl php-xdebug 

After installing those PHP modules, restart Apache.

Package: php7.1-curl

CURL module for PHP [default]

This package provides the CURL module for PHP.

Xdebug:

Package: php-xdebug

Xdebug Module for PHP

The Xdebug extension helps you debugging your script by providing a lot of valuable debug information. The debug information that Xdebug can provide includes the following:

• stack traces and function traces in error messages with:
  • full parameter display for user defined functions
  • function name, file name and line indications
  • support for member functions
• memory allocation
• protection for infinite recursions

Xdebug also provides:

• profiling information for PHP scripts
• script execution analysis
• capabilities to debug your scripts interactively with a debug client

As for your edit, php_curl.dll is for Microsoft Windows and not Linux; please comment that again.