feature request: 3rd party php extensions installation and enabling. #99

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1. github-actions

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   needs triage

   on Nov 4, 2026
2. onairmarc

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   help wantedApproved: anyone may open a PR for this issueApproved: anyone may open a PR for this issue

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   needs triage

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3. onairmarc

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4. onairmarc commented on Nov 4, 2026

   

   onairmarc

   on Nov 4, 2026

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   I'd like to see a one-click install for extensions to make it as easy as possible for users to add non-standard extensions. If we don't support an extension via one-click install then we need to have a way "upload" an extension into the PHP installation. The term "upload" here really is just browsing for where the extension is on disk and then copying that file to where Flock needs it ti be,

   👍React with 👍1Reacted by Umer Farooq
5. onairmarc

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   php extension

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6. umefarooq commented on Nov 4, 2026

   

   umefarooq

   on Nov 4, 2026

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   if you have look on phpmon it has one-click install first party php extensions. Please check screenshot. Also you can change php version for which you want to install extensions.

   

   👍React with 👍1Reacted by Nicola Onofri
7. umefarooq commented on Nov 5, 2026

   

   umefarooq

   on Nov 5, 2026

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   Here is PHPMon repository https://github.com/nicoverbruggen/phpmon
8. rajtik76 commented on Nov 6, 2026

   

   rajtik76

   on Nov 6, 2026

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   Following up on your reply in #107, @lukas-frey: agreed, imap shouldn't load for every project. Here's how I'd start on per-version enabling, keeping the first PR small.

   Enabling extensions per PHP version

   • flock ext enable <name> --php 8.4 and flock ext disable <name> --php 8.4 (without --php, the project's version).
   • Enabled means php/<minor>/conf.d/20-<name>.ini with extension = <name>. Same model as Debian's phpenmod and the Docker image's docker-php-ext-enable: ext/ is what's available, conf.d is what's on, and php.ini stays the user's. The file survives PHP updates (place() only replaces bin/, ext/ and LICENSES/), and FrankenPHP reads its own conf.d, so thread-unsafe extensions like imap stay out of it without a special case.
   • Only shared extensions present in ext/, and only after they load in a test run (php -n -d extension=… -m), so a broken one can't take the version down. Then that version's FPM pool restarts; the CLI picks it up right away.
   • The opt-in list starts with just imap. Everything Flock loads today keeps loading.
   • flock ext and the php_extensions MCP tool, which share the same check, report a required extension that's available but off, with the command to turn it on.

   Later, separate PRs

   • Disabling extensions that are on by default.
   • Toggles in the apps' PHP settings.
   • Installing or uploading extensions Flock doesn't ship (the one-click install and upload from the comment above).

   For imap there'd be nothing to enable without flock-php/binaries#48. It only builds imap.so (plus the Windows DLL for 8.4+) and loads nothing. Do you want to keep it for this? If the direction works for you, I can take the first part.
9. cristianovalenca commented on Nov 8, 2026

   

   cristianovalenca

   on Nov 8, 2026

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   Adding two concrete cases from projects I work on. flock ext reports both extensions as unavailable:

   # macOS, PHP 8.4
   ✗ ffi       required by codewithkyrian/transformers, jcupitt/vips — Flock's PHP 8.4 doesn't include it
   
   # Linux (Arch), PHP 8.5
   ⚠ Requires the PHP extension rdkafka, which Flock's PHP 8.5 doesn't include
   

   Both are hard dependencies of existing Laravel apps, so those sites can't run on Flock today (the second one shows up as a warning in flock sites).

   They probably sit at different points of the plan discussed here:

   • ffi ships with PHP itself, so it looks like a good candidate for the opt-in, per-version enabling described above (flock ext enable ffi --php 8.4), without being loaded for every project. Note that jcupitt/vips also needs libvips on the machine, so enabling the extension alone may not be enough for that package.
   • rdkafka is a PECL extension that also needs librdkafka, so it would depend on the later "install or upload extensions Flock doesn't ship" part.

   I'm not asking to bundle either one for everyone. A per-version opt-in matches what you said in #107. Happy to test whatever comes out of this on macOS and on Arch Linux.

   👍React with 👍1Reacted by Marc Beinder
10. onairmarc commented on Nov 8, 2026

    

    onairmarc

    on Nov 8, 2026

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    Yep! This is on our roadmap! If anyone in the community wants to take a shot at contributing this, it would be greatly appreciated!