I am trying to install pecl_http on Ubuntu 14.04, however it reports to require PHP 7.
$ sudo pecl install pecl_http
pecl/pecl_http requires PHP (version >= 7.0.0), installed version is 5.5.9-1ubuntu4.14
pecl/raphf requires PHP (version >= 7.0.0), installed version is 5.5.9-1ubuntu4.14
pecl/propro requires PHP (version >= 7.0.0), installed version is 5.5.9-1ubuntu4.14
No valid packages found
install failed
$
Similarly on Debian:
pecl/pecl_http requires PHP (version >= 7.0.0), installed version is 5.6.17-0+deb8u1
pecl/raphf requires PHP (version >= 7.0.0), installed version is 5.6.17-0+deb8u1
pecl/propro requires PHP (version >= 7.0.0), installed version is 5.6.17-0+deb8u1
I can't find changelog any information that pecl_http is not backward compatible with PHP 5.x.
I tried with PHP 7.0 and it installed successfully, but is there anything I can do to install it with PHP 5.x?
Answer
You'll need to find out what version of pecl_http doesn't require the current version of PHP, and then specifically install that one. According to the documentation:
"Package[-version/state][.tar]" : queries your default channel's server (pear.php.net) and downloads the newest package with the preferred quality/state (stable).
To retrieve Package version 1.1, use "Package-1.1," to retrieve Package state beta, use "Package-beta." To retrieve an uncompressed file, append .tar (make sure there is no file by the same name first)
And according to the changelog, pecl_http 3.0 is the first PHP 7 compatible version, so maybe try the previous.
Final answer: you'd be looking for sudo pecl install pecl_http-2.5.5