webstack-setup

Automated PHP + PHP-FPM + nginx setup scripts for Arch Linux, built for local development.

Each script covers a distinct concern and can be run independently, as long as the recommended order is followed.

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What's included

Script	What it does
setup-php.sh	Installs PHP and extensions, activates them in php.ini and conf.d, configures OPcache, starts PHP-FPM
setup-fpm.sh	Calculates and applies PHP-FPM pool parameters based on available hardware
setup-nginx.sh	Installs nginx, writes an optimized nginx.conf, creates the virtual host directory structure, and provides a Laravel-ready virtual host template
create-vhost.sh	Interactively creates and activates a new nginx virtual host for a Laravel project

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Requirements

• Arch Linux
• sudo access
• Internet connection (scripts use pacman to install packages)

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Usage

The setup scripts must be run in the following order. Each one validates that the previous step has been completed before doing anything.

sudo bash setup-php.sh    # 1. Install PHP, extensions and start PHP-FPM
sudo bash setup-fpm.sh    # 2. Fine-tune the PHP-FPM pool
sudo bash setup-nginx.sh  # 3. Install and configure nginx

Why this order:

• setup-fpm.sh requires php-fpm to be installed and running — which setup-php.sh guarantees.
• setup-nginx.sh is independent of the PHP scripts, but the virtual host template it generates references the PHP-FPM socket, so running it last keeps things consistent.

create-vhost.sh is not part of the initial setup — run it once per project, any time after setup-nginx.sh:

sudo bash create-vhost.sh

All scripts are idempotent — safe to run multiple times.

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What each script does

setup-php.sh

Installs the following packages via pacman:

• php, php-fpm
• php-gd, php-intl, php-pgsql, php-sqlite, php-xsl
• php-redis, php-igbinary

After installation, it:

• Uncomments the required extensions in /etc/php/php.ini
• Activates extensions in /etc/php/conf.d/ (redis, igbinary)
• Writes a tuned opcache.ini to /etc/php/conf.d/, with memory_consumption scaled to available RAM
• Adjusts key php.ini settings: memory_limit, upload_max_filesize, post_max_size, max_execution_time, date.timezone
• Enables and starts the php-fpm systemd service

OPcache memory allocation by RAM:

Total RAM	opcache.memory_consumption
≥ 16 GB	256 MB
≥ 8 GB	128 MB
< 8 GB	64 MB

Note: OPcache is configured with validate_timestamps=1 for local development — PHP checks whether files have changed on each request. In production, set validate_timestamps=0 for maximum performance.

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setup-fpm.sh

Calculates PHP-FPM pool parameters based on detected hardware and prompts for confirmation before applying.

Assumptions:

• Average PHP-FPM worker memory (Laravel): ~50 MB
• 20% of total RAM is reserved for the OS and other processes

Calculated parameters:

Parameter	Formula
pm.max_children	(RAM × 80%) ÷ 50MB
pm.start_servers	max_children ÷ 4
pm.min_spare_servers	max_children ÷ 4
pm.max_spare_servers	max_children ÷ 2
pm.max_requests	500 (fixed — recycles workers to prevent memory leaks)

A timestamped backup of www.conf is created before any change is applied.

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setup-nginx.sh

Installs nginx and writes a new /etc/nginx/nginx.conf with:

• worker_processes set to the number of detected CPU cores
• worker_connections 1024
• Gzip compression enabled for common text and asset types
• client_max_body_size 64M (matches upload_max_filesize in php.ini)
• include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*.conf for virtual host management

Creates the sites-available and sites-enabled directories and writes a documented Laravel virtual host template to /etc/nginx/sites-available/laravel.conf.example.

To activate a virtual host:

# 1. Copy the template
cp /etc/nginx/sites-available/laravel.conf.example \
   /etc/nginx/sites-available/myproject.conf

# 2. Edit server_name and root in the copied file

# 3. Add the domain to /etc/hosts (if using a .local domain)
echo "127.0.0.1  myproject.local" | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts

# 4. Enable the virtual host
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/myproject.conf \
      /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

# 5. Validate and reload
nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx

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create-vhost.sh

Interactively creates a new nginx virtual host for a Laravel project. Run once per project, any time after setup-nginx.sh.

sudo bash create-vhost.sh

The script asks three questions, displaying a short explanation and an example for each:

Question	What it expects
Project name	Lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens. Used for the config filename and nginx logs.
Local domain	The domain nginx will respond to (e.g. alma.local). Added to /etc/hosts automatically.
Root path	Absolute path to the Laravel project's public/ directory.

After confirmation, it:

• Writes the virtual host config to /etc/nginx/sites-available/<project>.conf
• Adds the domain to /etc/hosts (skips if already present)
• Creates a symlink in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
• Runs nginx -t to validate the configuration
• Reloads nginx

All virtual hosts are created on port 80.

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PHP-FPM socket path

The Laravel virtual host template uses the Arch Linux default socket:

unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock

If your setup uses a different socket or a TCP port, update the fastcgi_pass directive in your virtual host configuration accordingly.

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Other distributions

These scripts are written specifically for Arch Linux. Package names, file paths (/etc/php/, /etc/nginx/), and the user nginx runs as (http) differ across distributions. Support for other distros may be added in the future.

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Related

• pg-setup — PostgreSQL installation and project setup scripts for Arch Linux