PHP fails on Ubuntu 20.04

trellis
1

Hi there,

I’m running into an issue with existing (older) trellis projects that still run on Ubuntu 20.04.
Whenever I try to spin up a new VM on an existing project with trellis init and trellis up I’m getting this error:

TASK [php : Install PHP and extensions] ****************************************
failed: [default] (item=php8.2-bcmath) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": {"key": "php8.2-bcmath", "value": "present"}, "msg": "No package matching 'php8.2-bcmath' is available"}
failed: [default] (item=php8.2-cli) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": {"key": "php8.2-cli", "value": "present"}, "msg": "No package matching 'php8.2-cli' is available"}
failed: [default] (item=php8.2-curl) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": {"key": "php8.2-curl", "value": "present"}, "msg": "No package matching 'php8.2-curl' is available"}
failed: [default] (item=php8.2-dev) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": {"key": "php8.2-dev", "value": "present"}, "msg": "No package matching 'php8.2-dev' is available"}
failed: [default] (item=php8.2-fpm) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": {"key": "php8.2-fpm", "value": "present"}, "msg": "No package matching 'php8.2-fpm' is available"}
failed: [default] (item=php8.2-imagick) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": {"key": "php8.2-imagick", "value": "present"}, "msg": "No package matching 'php8.2-imagick' is available"}
failed: [default] (item=php8.2-intl) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": {"key": "php8.2-intl", "value": "present"}, "msg": "No package matching 'php8.2-intl' is available"}
failed: [default] (item=php8.2-mbstring) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": {"key": "php8.2-mbstring", "value": "present"}, "msg": "No package matching 'php8.2-mbstring' is available"}
failed: [default] (item=php8.2-mysql) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": {"key": "php8.2-mysql", "value": "present"}, "msg": "No package matching 'php8.2-mysql' is available"}
failed: [default] (item=php8.2-xml) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": {"key": "php8.2-xml", "value": "present"}, "msg": "No package matching 'php8.2-xml' is available"}
failed: [default] (item=php8.2-xmlrpc) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": {"key": "php8.2-xmlrpc", "value": "present"}, "msg": "No package matching 'php8.2-xmlrpc' is available"}
failed: [default] (item=php8.2-zip) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": {"key": "php8.2-zip", "value": "present"}, "msg": "No package matching 'php8.2-zip' is available"}

I’m pretty sure it has to do with the fact that Ubuntu 20.04 has reached end-of-life support
for it’s LTS standard security maintenance in May 2025:

Because of that, the ppa:ondrej/php package is unable to install PHP or any extensions on Focal Fossa:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/79709025/faild-to-install-php-8-3-on-ubuntu-20-04

Also re-provisioning any remote server running on Ubuntu Focal Fossa results in this error:

TASK [common : Update apt packages] ********************************************
fatal: [167.172.45.117]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "msg": "Failed to update apt cache: W:This must be accepted explicitly before updates for this repository can be applied. See apt-secure(8) manpage for details., E:Repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/ondrej/php/ubuntu focal InRelease' changed its 'Label' value from '***** The main PPA for supported PHP versions with many PECL extensions *****' to 'PPA for PHP'"}

But I can fix that by running sudo apt update and accepting the changes in the http://ppa.launchpad.net/ondrej/php/ubuntu repository.

Locally it’s easy for me to update to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, that fixes the [php : Install PHP and extensions] task, however I have at least 20+ live droplets running on Ubuntu 20.04 still.

It’s a LOT of work to create new droplets for each one of them and sync all content especially since we don’t control the DNS records for a lot of our clients.

So my question basically is;
Is there a workaround to keep running existing Ubuntu 20.04 projects with a different PHP package? Or is there a smarter way to upgrade existing droplets to Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04?

I’m aware you can do it with sudo do-release-upgrade following this guide:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-upgrade-to-ubuntu-22-04-jammy-jellyfish

But I’m a bit hesitant to do this on live droplets.
Any insights are appreciated.

Thanks!

2

This is one of the downsides of managing servers yourself :sweat_smile:

When I ran into this, I provisioned new servers and then swapped the DNS. Trying to manually upgrade a production server’s Ubuntu version seems sketchy to me, and kind of defeats the purpose of using Trellis.

If you happen to be using DigitalOcean, they have floating/reserved IPs that could help you avoid multiple DNS changes in the future.

3

True, but sometimes quicker then having to wait for some IT guy at your client’s office to update the DNS records :grin:

I actually just tried the sudo do-release-upgrade method on a DO staging droplet, first from:
20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) → 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)
22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) → 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat)

And it went pretty smooth to be honest, only downtime of around ~5-6 mins!

I am, but either way you have to edit the DNS records, either by updating to the new droplet IP or by updating to the new reserved IP.

I just noticed that Digital Ocean now also has Reserved IPv6 Addresses! That was one of the reasons I didn’t use it that much yet.

1 Like
4

I wonder what would happen if you try to re-provision the server after you’ve manually upgraded :eyes:

5

That’s the first thing I tried :slight_smile:
And I had no errors whatsoever, I was suprised too!

1 Like
6

:partying_face:

Good to know, thank you the post and the updates! Should be helpful for others with old servers

1 Like