PHP Version Manager for Windows

PVM (PHP Version Manager) is a lightweight PowerShell tool for Windows that makes it easy to install, switch, and manage multiple PHP versions.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Requirements
• Installation & Setup
• Quick Start
• Usage
  • Basic Usage
  • Advanced Usage
  • Automatic Version Detection
  • Managing php.ini
  • Profiles
  • Cache
  • Aliases
  • Build Types
  • Namespaced Commands
• Data Storage
• Running Tests
  • Requirements
  • Run the tests
• Contributing
• Credits
• License

Features

• Install and manage multiple PHP versions
• Switch PHP versions instantly
• Auto-detect PHP version from project files
• Manage php.ini settings
• Enable, disable, install, and remove extensions
• Save and load reusable PHP configuration profiles
• Built-in cache management
• Built-in test runner with coverage reporting

Requirements

• Windows 10 or Windows 11
• PowerShell 5.1+ or PowerShell 7+
• Internet connection for installing PHP versions and extensions

Installation & Setup

Clone the repository, copy the environment file, run setup, and ensure the project directory is available in your PATH.

git clone https://github.com/drissboumlik/pvm
cd pvm
cp .env.example .env

# Run this command to setup pvm
pvm setup

Quick Start

The commands below install PHP 8.4, switch to it, and verify the active version.

# Install PHP 8.4
pvm install 8.4

# Switch to PHP 8.4
pvm use 8.4

# Verify active version
pvm current

# List installed versions
pvm list

Usage

Basic Usage

pvm install latest
pvm use 8.4
pvm current
pvm list
pvm help

Advanced Usage

# Display the available options
pvm help

# Display help for a specific command
pvm help <command>
# Example: pvm help setup

# Display information about the current PHP (version, path, extensions, settings)
pvm info # pvm ini info

# Display information about the current PHP extensions
pvm info extensions # pvm ini info extensions

# Display information about the current PHP settings
pvm info settings # pvm ini info settings

# Display information about the current PHP (version, path, extensions, settings) with 'cache' in their name
pvm info --search=<term> # pvm ini info --search=<term>
# Example: pvm info --search=cache

# Display active PHP version
pvm current

# List installed PHP versions
pvm list # pvm ls

# List installed versions with 8.2 in the name
pvm list --search=<version>
# Example: pvm list --search=8.2

# List installed versions matching x86 and nts
pvm list [x86|x64] [ts|nts] 
# Example: pvm list x86 nts

# List installable PHP versions from remote source
pvm list available # pvm ls available

# List installable PHP versions from remote source matching x86 and nts
pvm list available [x86|x64] [ts|nts] 
# Example: pvm list available x86 nts

# List available versions with 8.2 in the name
pvm list available --search=<version>
# Example: pvm list available --search=8.2

# Install a specific version.
pvm install <version> # pvm i <version>
# Example: pvm install 8.4 # pvm i 8.4

# Install a specific version for a specific arch & build type
pvm install <version> [x86|x64] [ts|nts]
# Example: pvm install 8.4 x64 nts # pvm i 8.4 x64 nts

# Install the latest available PHP version.
pvm install latest # pvm i latest

# Uninstall a specific version
pvm uninstall <version> # pvm rm <version>
# Example: pvm uninstall 8.4 # pvm rm 8.4

# Switch to use the specified version
pvm use <version>
# Example: pvm use 8.4

Automatic Version Detection

PVM can detect the PHP version from:

• .php-version
• composer.json

Example .php-version:

8.4

Example composer.json:

{
  "require": {
    "php": "^8.4"
  }
}

# Install the PHP version specified by your project.
pvm install auto # pvm i auto

# Switch to use the detected PHP version from .php-version or composer.json in your current project/directory
pvm use auto

Manage php.ini settings and extensions

# Check status of multiple extensions
pvm ini status <extension> # It shows all matching extensions
# Example: pvm ini status xdebug opcache
# Example: pvm ini status sql

# Enable or disable multiple extensions
pvm ini enable <extension> # It shows all matching extensions then enables the selected one
# Example: pvm ini enable xdebug opcache
# Example: pvm ini enable sql
pvm ini disable <extension> # It shows all matching extensions then disables the selected one
# Example: pvm ini disable xdebug opcache
# Example: pvm ini disable sql

# Set or Get multiple settings values and change the status
pvm ini set <setting>=<value> [--disable] # Default is enabling the setting
pvm ini set <setting> [--disable] # It shows all matching settings then enables the selected one
# Example: pvm ini set memory_limit=512M max_file_uploads=20
# Example: pvm ini set max_input_time=60 --disable
# Example: pvm ini set memory=1G
# Example: pvm ini set memory
pvm ini get <setting> # It shows all matching settings
# Example: pvm ini get memory_limit max_file_uploads
# Example: pvm ini get memory

# Install extensions from remote source
pvm ini add <extension> # It shows all matching extensions then adds the selected one
# Example: pvm ini add opcache
# Example: pvm ini add sql

# Remove extensions from extensions directory and ini file
pvm ini remove <extension> # It shows all matching extensions then removes the selected one
# Example: pvm ini remove opcache
# Example: pvm ini remove sql

# List installed extensions
pvm ini list

# List available extensions from remote source
pvm ini list available

# List installed extensions with 'zip' in their name
pvm ini list --search=<extension>
# Example: pvm ini list --search=zip

# List available extensions with 'zip' in their name
pvm ini list available --search=<extension>
# Example: pvm ini list available --search=zip

# Restore backup
pvm ini restore # PVM automatically creates php.ini backups before modifying settings or extensions.

# Check logs
pvm log --pageSize=[number] --search=<term> # Default value is 5
# Example: pvm log --pageSize=3 --search=error

Manage PHP Configuration Profiles

Save, load, and share PHP settings and extensions using JSON profiles:

# Save current PHP configuration to a profile
pvm profile save <name> [description]
# Example: pvm profile save development
# Example: pvm profile save production "Production configuration"

# Load and apply a saved profile
pvm profile load <name>
# Example: pvm profile load development

# List all available profiles
pvm profile list

# Show detailed profile contents
pvm profile show <name>
# Example: pvm profile show development

# Delete a profile
pvm profile delete <name>
# Example: pvm profile delete old-profile

# Export profile to a JSON file
pvm profile export <name> [path]
# Example: pvm profile export development
# Example: pvm profile export dev ./backup.json

# Import profile from a JSON file
pvm profile import <path> [name]
# Example: pvm profile import ./my-profile.json
# Example: pvm profile import ./profile.json custom-name

Profile Structure: Profiles are stored as JSON files in storage/data/profiles/ and contain:

• Popular/common PHP settings (key-value pairs with enabled/disabled state)
• Popular/common extensions (enabled/disabled state and type)
• Metadata (name, description, creation date, PHP version)

Note: Only popular/common settings and extensions are saved in profiles. This keeps profiles focused and manageable.

Managing Cache

Manage the cache directory and its contents:

# List files in the cache directory
pvm cache list

# Show details of a specific cache file
pvm cache show <name>
# Example: pvm cache show example-cache

# Remove a specific cache file
pvm cache delete <name>
# Example: pvm cache delete example-cache

# Remove all cache files
pvm cache clear

Command Aliases

You can use the following aliases for commonly used commands.

To view the complete list from the CLI:

pvm aliases

Alias	Command
?	help
h	help
init	setup
cur	current
active	current
ls	list
i	install
u	uninstall
switch	use
on	enable
off	disable
a	add
+	add
rm	remove
-	remove
del	delete
cls	clear

Build Types

Option	Meaning
x86	32-bit
x64	64-bit
ts	Thread Safe
nts	Non Thread Safe

Namespaced Commands

The following command groups support both syntaxes:

pvm help <subcommand>
pvm help:<subcommand>

pvm ini <subcommand>
pvm ini:<subcommand>

pvm profile <subcommand>
pvm profile:<subcommand>

pvm cache <subcommand>
pvm cache:<subcommand>

Data Storage

Item	Location
PHP Versions	storage/php/
Profiles	storage/data/profiles/
Cache	storage/data/cache/
Logs	storage/logs/

Running Tests

Run tests against the PowerShell scripts in the repo — especially useful for contributors verifying changes before submitting a pull request:

Requirements

To run tests with, you need to have the Pester testing framework installed. Pester is a testing framework for PowerShell.

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

Install-Module -Name Pester -Force -SkipPublisherCheck

💡 If prompted to trust the repository, type Y and press Enter.

You can verify the installation with:

Get-Module -ListAvailable Pester

Run the tests

pvm test [files = (files inside the tests/ directory)] [--exclude=files] [--coverage[=<number>]] [--verbosity=(None|Normal|Detailed|Diagnostic)] [--tag=<tag>] [--sort=[coverage|duration|file]]

# Examples:
pvm test # .............................. Runs all tests with Normal (default) verbosity.
pvm test use install # .................. Runs only 'use.tests.ps1' and 'install.tests.ps1' files with Normal verbosity.
pvm test --exclude=use,install # ........ Runs all tests except 'use.tests.ps1' and 'install.tests.ps1' with Normal verbosity.
pvm test --verbosity=Detailed # ......... Runs all tests with Detailed verbosity.
pvm test --coverage # ................... Runs all tests and generates coverage report (target: 75%)
pvm test --coverage=80.5 # .............. Runs all tests and generates coverage report (target: 80.5%)
pvm test --sort=duration # .............. Runs all tests and sort results by duration
pvm test --tag=myTag #................... Runs only runs tests with tag "myTag".

Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING for details.

Credits

• Driss
• All Contributors

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.