Create Custom PHP Directives and Install a Jekyll Ruby Application on cPanel

1. Create Custom PHP Directives

Important: This feature only applies to systems running EasyApache 4.

If your system requires additional PHP configuration, you can create custom PHP INI directives. To ensure that WHM’s MultiPHP INI Editor (Editor Mode) recognizes and validates your custom directives, you must store them in:

/etc/cpanel/ea4/phpini_directives

1.1 How to Add a Custom PHP Directive

• Create the directory above if it does not already exist.
• Inside the directory, create a .yaml file.
• Define your directives inside the directives key using the same structure as the system file.

Example YAML structure:

directives:
  directive_foo:
    changeable: PHP_INI_ALL
    default: foo
    multiple: 0
    note: '...'
    section: '...'
    type: string

  directive_bar:
    changeable: PHP_INI_PERDIR
    default: 1
    multiple: 0
    note: '...'
    deprecated: 5.4.0
    section: '...'
    type: boolean

Notes:

• If the directive already exists, the system ignores it.
• The system reads /usr/local/cpanel/whostmgr/etc/phpini_directives.yaml first, then reads files in /etc/cpanel/ea4/phpini_directives in ASCII order.
• The first occurrence of a directive is the one used.

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2. Install a Jekyll Ruby Application

Jekyll is a static site generator built on Ruby. This section explains how to install and deploy a Jekyll application on a cPanel server.

Warning: cPanel does not develop or support Jekyll. Only experienced system administrators should perform these steps.

You may perform all steps via SSH or through cPanel’s Terminal interface.

2.1 Pre‑Installation Requirements

Update RubyGems to the latest version:

source /opt/cpanel/ea-ruby27/enable && gem update --system

Ensure the following EasyApache 4 RPMs are installed:

• ea-ruby27-mod_passenger
• ea-ruby27-ruby-devel

To install them:

yum install ea-ruby27-mod_passenger ea-ruby27-ruby-devel

2.2 Install Bundler and Jekyll

Install the required Ruby gems as the root user:

scl enable ea-ruby27 'gem install bundler jekyll'

If you prefer not to use scl:

• Log in as a cPanel user.
• Add this line to your shell’s rc file (e.g., ~/.bashrc):

source /opt/cpanel/ea-ruby27/enable

Log out and back in, then run:

gem install bundler jekyll

2.3 Create Your Jekyll Website

To create a new Jekyll application:

scl enable ea-ruby27 'jekyll new hyde'

2.4 Build and Deploy the Application

Navigate to the /hyde directory and build the site:

scl enable ea-ruby27 'jekyll build --baseurl '/hyde' --destination ~/public_html/hyde'

Then visit your new site in a browser:

http://example.com/hyde

In this example, example.com represents your domain.

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Conclusion

This guide helps you create custom PHP directives for EasyApache 4 and install a Jekyll Ruby application on a cPanel server. These tools provide powerful customization options for developers and system administrators.