Installing the Chilkat PHP Extension on Linux and Alpine Linux

Installing the Chilkat extension on Linux (x86_64, x86, arm64, armv7l) and Alpine Linux — with one command, in a Dockerfile, or step by step — plus the checks that prevent the common “unable to load” errors.

composer require chilkat/chilkat
vendor/bin/chilkat-install

curl -fsSL https://chilkatdownload.com/php/install-php.sh | sudo sh

FROM php:8.3-fpm-alpine
RUN curl -fsSL https://chilkatdownload.com/php/install-php.sh | sh

FROM php:8.3-cli-alpine
COPY --from=composer:2 /usr/bin/composer /usr/bin/composer
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN composer install --no-dev --no-interaction && vendor/bin/chilkat-install

docker run --rm php:8.3-cli-alpine sh -c "curl -fsSL https://chilkatdownload.com/php/install-php.sh | sh >/dev/null && php -m | grep chilkat"

- uses: shivammathur/setup-php@v2
  with:
    php-version: '8.3'
- run: composer install --no-interaction
- run: sudo php vendor/bin/chilkat-install        # or: curl -fsSL https://chilkatdownload.com/php/install-php.sh | sudo sh

1. Download

   Get the build for your system from the Chilkat Linux PHP Downloads (Linux and Alpine are both listed there).

2. What's in the download

   Each .tar.gz contains:

   chilkat-php-<version>-<arch>-linux/
   ├─ chilkat.so              the Chilkat PHP extension
   ├─ chilkat.php             PHP class definitions (your script includes this)
   ├─ phpinfo.php             prints your PHP configuration
   ├─ showExtDir.php          prints the extension directory
   ├─ test.php                verifies the install
   ├─ license.pdf
   ├─ pcre2-license.pdf
   ├─ quickjs-license.pdf
   └─ THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt

   Two files, two roles: chilkat.so is the native extension that PHP loads (Steps 4–5). chilkat.php defines the Chilkat classes (CkGlobal, CkHttp, …) and is included by your own scripts — keep it where your script can find it (your project directory or a path on include_path).

3. Check your PHP version, architecture, and thread safety

   php -v
   php -i | grep -E "Thread Safety|Architecture"
   uname -m
   php --ini          # shows the Loaded Configuration File (php.ini)

   If Thread Safety is enabled, use the ZTS download; if disabled, use the regular download. Match the architecture to uname -m.

4. Copy chilkat.so to the extension directory

   Find the extension directory:

   php showExtDir.php          # prints ini_get("extension_dir")

   Copy the extension there (usually requires root):

   sudo cp chilkat.so "$(php -r 'echo ini_get(\"extension_dir\");')"

5. Enable the extension in php.ini

   Open the php.ini reported by php --ini, find the Dynamic Extensions section, and add:

   extension=chilkat.so

   If PHP runs under Apache, Nginx, or PHP-FPM, restart that service afterward so the change takes effect. (Note the web SAPI may load a different php.ini than the CLI — check phpinfo() in the web context.)

6. Verify with test.php

   Run the included test.php, which unlocks Chilkat in trial mode and performs an AES encrypt/decrypt:

   php test.php

   Successful output looks like:

   Unlocked in trial mode.
   4846f83aa211e239aa62a21f527f089ee9ddbead30ee15d4e79b607a621b97bedb9b6f00a9b21f1b43a50b4c1be0edf2
   The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

7. Use Chilkat in your scripts

   Include chilkat.php and unlock once at startup (any string starts the 30-day trial; use your license code after purchase):

   <?php
   include("chilkat.php");
   
   $glob = new CkGlobal();
   $glob->UnlockBundle("Anything for 30-day trial");
   
   // ... use any Chilkat class, e.g. new CkHttp(), new CkJsonObject(), ...
   ?>

   See also: Installing the chilkat.php file for all apps.