PHP Modules for WordPress (php -m)

WordPress core and common plugins depend on specific PHP extensions. If an extension is missing, you may see blank pages, plugin install failures, image processing errors, or the inability to connect to the database.

Quick Summary

• List modules with php -m (CLI) and confirm the web server PHP has the same extensions.
• Install the missing extension packages for your PHP version.
• After installing extensions, reload PHP (FPM/Apache/OLS) so the web server picks them up.

Check what is installed

list-php-modules.sh

php -m

To get a quick searchable list:

list-php-modules-sorted.sh

php -m | sort

Extensions commonly needed by WordPress

This is a practical baseline for typical WordPress sites.

Extension	Why it matters	Package name (varies)
mysqli or pdo_mysql	Database connectivity	php-mysql / php82-php-mysqlnd
curl	HTTP requests (updates, APIs)	php-curl
mbstring	UTF-8 string handling	php-mbstring
gd or imagick	Image resizing/thumbnails	php-gd / php-imagick
zip	Plugin/theme ZIP installs	php-zip
xml	XML parsing (feeds, some plugins)	php-xml
exif	Image metadata (optional)	php-exif
intl	Locale/collation (optional)	php-intl

note

Exact package names depend on distro and PHP version. The goal is to install the extension for the PHP version your web server uses.

Install missing modules

Debian/Ubuntu

For Ubuntu/Debian, packages are usually named php-<ext> (or php8.x-<ext> if you use versioned packages).

install-wordpress-php-extensions-apt.sh

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
  php-mysql \
  php-curl \
  php-mbstring \
  php-gd \
  php-zip \
  php-xml \
  php-intl \
  php-exif

RHEL/Rocky/Alma

On RHEL-family distros you may have module streams or third-party repos. Packages are commonly php-<ext>.

install-wordpress-php-extensions-dnf.sh

sudo dnf install -y \
  php-mysqlnd \
  php-curl \
  php-mbstring \
  php-gd \
  php-zip \
  php-xml \
  php-intl

OpenLiteSpeed (lsphp)

With OpenLiteSpeed, you often install lsphp packages (example uses PHP 8.2 naming; adjust to your version).

install-lsphp-extensions-apt.sh

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
  lsphp82 \
  lsphp82-mysql \
  lsphp82-curl \
  lsphp82-mbstring \
  lsphp82-gd \
  lsphp82-zip \
  lsphp82-xml

Reload services

Reload the PHP handler used by your web server.

PHP-FPM

reload-php-fpm.sh

sudo systemctl reload php8.2-fpm

Apache + mod_php

reload-apache.sh

sudo systemctl reload apache2

OpenLiteSpeed

reload-openlitespeed.sh

sudo systemctl reload lsws

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
php -m shows the module but WordPress still errors	Web server uses a different PHP binary	Verify PHP handler (FPM vs lsphp) and install extensions for that version
Class "ZipArchive" not found	zip extension missing	Install php-zip and reload PHP
Image uploads fail or no thumbnails	gd/imagick missing	Install php-gd or php-imagick