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PHP runtime (8.4 by default)

Moodle 5.3 and newer default tags, main and latest use PHP 8.4. Moodle 4.5 and unsuffixed 5.0–5.2 tags keep PHP 8.3. PHP 8.4 is also available as an opt-in image line, published with a -php84 tag suffix, for Moodle 5.0–5.2. Moodle 5.3 beta/RC tags use PHP 8.4 directly, without a suffix. See the 5.3 migration plan and validation.

Moodle 4.5 compatibility

Moodle 4.5 LTS does not support PHP 8.4. Keep deployments pinned to v4.5.x; latest follows 5.3 LTS and must not be used to stay on 4.5.

Which tag do I pull?

Moodle version Default tag Opt-in tag (PHP 8.4)
Moodle 4.5.x v4.5.x (PHP 8.3) (not available)
Moodle 5.0.x v5.0.x (PHP 8.3) v5.0.x-php84
Moodle 5.1.x v5.1.x (PHP 8.3) v5.1.x-php84
Moodle 5.2.x v5.2.x (PHP 8.3) v5.2.x-php84
Moodle 5.3 beta/RC v5.3.0-beta / RC tag (PHP 8.4) no suffix needed
Moodle 5.3 stable v5.3.x (PHP 8.4) no suffix needed 
# PHP 8.4 image for Moodle 5.2.1
docker pull erseco/alpine-moodle:v5.2.1-php84
docker pull ghcr.io/erseco/alpine-moodle:v5.2.1-php84

In a docker-compose.yml, just pin the tag:

services:
  moodle:
    image: erseco/alpine-moodle:v5.2.1-php84
    # ...everything else is identical to the PHP 8.3 image

Moodle 4.x is not published on PHP 8.4

There are no -php84 images for the 4.x line. If you run Moodle 4.5 LTS, stay on the default PHP 8.3 tags.

What's different in the PHP 8.4 image?

Nothing except the PHP runtime. Same Nginx, same Moosh, same environment variables, same multi-arch targets, same database support (PostgreSQL, MariaDB/MySQL, SQLite). Only the PHP version changes from 8.3 to 8.4.

How these tags are built

  • The -php84 images are built from the php84 branch by a dedicated build-php84.yml workflow.
  • They never overwrite the existing latest, main, or vX.Y.Z tags.
  • New Moodle 5.0–5.2 releases automatically get a matching -php84 tag; the default PHP 8.3 tags are unaffected.

Default runtime policy

Since Moodle 5.3 LTS (v5.3.0), PHP 8.4 is the default for new releases, latest and development. Existing 4.5 and 5.0–5.2 tag runtimes remain unchanged. For a local 4.5 build, pass both --build-arg PHP_VERSION=83 --build-arg PHP_WEBSERVER_VERSION=3.20.