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Install the PHP mailparse extension

The PHP mailparse extension provides functions for parsing and working with email messages. The extension can parse RFC 822 and RFC 2045 (MIME) compliant messages. Mailparse is stream-based, meaning it does not keep in-memory copies of the files it processes and so is very resource efficient when dealing with large messages.

The mailparse extension supports PHP 5.6+.

Install the mailparse extension

Installing the extension involves the following steps:

  1. Install build dependencies (packages that are required to build the extension).
  2. Build the extension’s library file.
  3. Enable the extension in the PHP configuration.

Install build dependencies

Set environment variables for the package manager.

Terminal window
export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive

Install a compiler and other packages that are required for building PHP extensions.

Terminal window
sudo apt-get -y install gcc g++ make autoconf libc-dev pkg-config

Install additional packages that are required to build the mailparse extension.

Terminal window
sudo apt-get -y install re2c

Build the extension

The PECL install command compiles the extension’s .so library file.

Terminal window
yes '' | sudo pecl8.4-sp install --nodeps mailparse

Enable the extension

Configure PHP to load the extension.

Terminal window
sudo bash -c "echo extension=mailparse.so > /etc/php8.4-sp/conf.d/mailparse.ini"

Restart PHP-FPM.

Terminal window
sudo service php8.4-fpm-sp restart

Verify the extension is enabled in PHP.

Terminal window
php8.4-sp -i | grep mailparse

If the extension is enabled, you will see output like the following.

/etc/phpX.Y-sp/conf.d/mailparse.ini,
mailparse
mailparse support => enabled
mailparse.def_charset => us-ascii => us-ascii

Uninstall the mailparse extension

Uninstalling the extension involves the following steps:

  1. Disable the extension in the PHP configuration.
  2. Remove the extension’s library file.

Disable the extension

Remove the extension’s configuration from PHP.

Terminal window
sudo rm /etc/php8.4-sp/conf.d/mailparse.ini

Restart PHP-FPM.

Terminal window
sudo service php8.4-fpm-sp restart

Remove the extension

The PECL uninstall command removes the extension’s .so library file.

Terminal window
sudo pecl8.4-sp uninstall mailparse