Install the PHP Pspell extension

The Pspell extension provides functions for checking the spelling of words.

For PHP 5.6 through PHP 8.3, the Pspell extension is installed by default. You do not need to install the Pspell extension for these PHP versions.

Starting with PHP 8.4, the Pspell extension was removed from PHP and must be installed as a third-party extension using the instructions below.

Install the Pspell extension

Installing the extension involves the following steps:

Set environment variables for the package manager.

export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive

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

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

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

sudo apt-get -y install libpspell-dev

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

yes '' | sudo pecl8.4-sp install pspell

Configure PHP to load the extension.

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

Restart PHP-FPM.

sudo service php8.4-fpm-sp restart

Verify the extension is enabled in PHP.

php8.4-sp -i | grep pspell

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

/etc/phpX.Y-sp/conf.d/pspell.ini,
pspell

Uninstalling the extension involves the following steps:

Remove the extension’s configuration from PHP.

sudo rm /etc/php8.4-sp/conf.d/pspell.ini

Restart PHP-FPM.

sudo service php8.4-fpm-sp restart

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

sudo pecl8.4-sp uninstall pspell