Running Legacy PHP Applications with DDEV on Apple Silicon

Staff Reporter

Garvin Hicking, a TYPO3 contributor, outlines a method to run legacy PHP applications using DDEV on Apple Silicon Macs. Faced with the challenge of running TYPO3 4.5, which requires PHP 5.3 and MySQL 5.5 versions not natively supported by DDEV, Garvin devised a solution involving custom Docker configurations.

He created a base DDEV configuration and supplemented it with custom docker-compose files to specify legacy versions of PHP and MySQL. For PHP, he utilised the devilbox/php-fpm:5.3-work image, and for MySQL, he employed a legacy DDEV image with adjustments to accommodate ARM64 architecture. An Apache proxy was configured to route PHP requests appropriately.

This approach allowed the legacy TYPO3 project to run within DDEV, maintaining consistency with modern development workflows while supporting outdated software requirements. Garvin notes that while this setup is effective, it should be used cautiously, given the security implications of running unsupported software versions.

The guide is well-structured and technically sound but clearly framed as a “last resort” for legacy maintenance. It’s a valuable reference for developers managing obsolete codebases in modern environments.

Source Reference

Title

Using DDEV to Spin Up a Legacy PHP Application

Byline

Garvin Hicking

Date of Publication

30 May 2025

Organization

DDEV

MySQL

Typo3

Docker

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