https://vpsineu.com/blog/how-to-build-and-install-php-5-6-9-from-source-on-ubuntu-14-04-vps/
Installing the necessary libraries
sudo apt-get install libfcgi-dev libfcgi0ldbl libjpeg62-dbg libmcrypt-dev libssl-dev libbz2-dev libjpeg-dev libfreetype6-dev libpng12-dev libxpm-dev libxml2-dev libpcre3-dev libbz2-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libjpeg-dev libpng12-dev libxpm-dev libfreetype6-dev libmysqlclient-dev libgmp-dev libsasl2-dev libmhash-dev unixodbc-dev freetds-dev libpspell-dev libsnmp-dev libtidy-dev libxslt1-dev libmcrypt-dev libdb5.3-dev libgd-dev libxfont1 libxfont-dev
Downloading the sources:
sudo wget -O /var/tmp/php-5.6.9.tar.bz2 http://bg2.php.net/get/php-5.6.9.tar.bz2/from/this/mirror
Unpacking the sources:
sudo tar -xvjpf /var/tmp/php-5.6.9.tar.bz2 -C /opt/build
Configuring the source:
cd /opt/build/php-5.6.9 ./configure \ --enable-fpm \ --with-mcrypt \ --enable-mbstring \ --with-openssl \ --with-mysql \ --with-mysql-sock \ --with-gd \ --with-jpeg-dir=/usr/lib \ --enable-gd-native-ttf \ --with-pdo-mysql \ --with-libxml-dir=/usr/lib \ --with-mysqli=/usr/bin/mysql_config \ --with-curl \ --enable-zip \ --enable-sockets \ --with-zlib \ --enable-exif \ --enable-ftp \ --with-iconv \ --with-gettext \ --enable-gd-native-ttf \ --with-t1lib=/usr \ --with-freetype-dir=/usr \ --prefix=/opt/PHP-5.6 \ --with-config-file-path=/opt/PHP-5.6/etc \ --with-fpm-user=www-data \ --with-fpm-group=www-data
Compatibility context
This procedure documents a PHP or Apache environment from its time. PHP 5.x and 7.x branches no longer receive standard support from the PHP project: do not deploy this configuration as is on a new server.
- First identify the versions actually installed and the loaded modules.
- Prepare a configuration backup and a rollback procedure.
- Validate the syntax, then the critical paths, on a version of PHP that is still maintained.
Reference: currently supported PHP versions.