Ubuntu runs a little behind in the PHP versions...I think it is mainly for compatibility sake (which is good if you are looking long-term without much breakage)

Ubuntu runs a little behind in the PHP versions...I think it is mainly for compatibility sake (which is good if you are looking long-term without much breakage) I switched to Linux Mint recently (which is a offshoot of Ubuntu) to have more recent PHP/MySQL versions. There are many guides out there for getting LAMP up and running with Mate as well as Ubuntu. Just include the version with it (i.e. search install php mysql ubuntu 19.10 )