PHP 8.4+ Installation Guide for MAMP 6.9

Prerequisites

Install PHP 8.3 through MAMP Pro (if not already installed). In theory, you can use any other available version; the guide below describes the process using 8.3 as a replacement target.

Installation Steps

1. Install PHP 8.4 via Homebrew

brew install [email protected]

2. Backup the existing PHP 8.3.0

sudo mv /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php8.3.0 /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php8.3.0.backup

3. Copy PHP 8.4.1 under the name php8.3.0

sudo cp -R /usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/8.4.16_1 /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php8.3.0

4. Copy configuration from backup

sudo cp -R /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php8.3.0.backup/conf /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php8.3.0/

5. Copy Apache module

sudo mkdir -p /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php8.3.0/modules
sudo cp /usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/8.4.16_1/lib/httpd/modules/libphp.so /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php8.3.0/modules/

6. Set correct permissions

sudo chmod -R 755 /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php8.3.0

Verification

After completing these steps, PHP 8.4.1 will be running under the 8.3 designation:

/Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php8.3.0/bin/php -v

Expected output:

PHP 8.4.16 (cli) (built: Dec 16 2025 16:03:34) (NTS)

Important Notes

Note: When installing via Homebrew, /usr/local/opt/[email protected] is a symlink to /usr/local/Cellar/[email protected]/8.4.16_1. Therefore, you should work with the physical directory path.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues:

• Ensure all paths are correct
• Verify that permissions are properly set
• Check MAMP logs for any errors
• Make sure the backup was created successfully before proceeding