How to Manually Upgrade phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu

I have running Ubuntu 18.04 on my workstation. I have the phpMyAdmin older version installed on it. Initially, the phpMyAdmin was installed through the apt package manager.

phpMyAdmin installation via Apt package manager create multiple directories:

• /etc/phpmyadmin – Configuration files
• /var/lib/phpmyadmin – Library and tmp directries
• /usr/share/phpmyadmin – Main phpMyAdmin installation

Step 1 – Backup phpMyAdmin

You should take a back up of your current phpMyAdmin directory. However, I have just renamed it to phpmyadmin.bak at the same location.

sudo mv /usr/share/phpmyadmin/ /usr/share/phpmyadmin.bak

Step 2 – Download Latest phpMyAdmin

Now, download the latest phpMyAdmin archive file from its official download page. During last update of this article phpMyAdmin 4.8.5 is latest version available for download.

wget www.phpmyadmin.net/downloads/phpMyAdmin-latest-all-languages.zip
unzip phpMyAdmin-latest-all-languages.zip

You will see a directory phpMyAdmin-[VERSION]-all-languages in the current location. Move this latest directory to the appropriate location.

sudo mkdir /usr/share/phpmyadmin
sudo mv phpMyAdmin-*/* /usr/share/phpmyadmin/

Step 3 – Update Configuration

As I told the existing phpMyAdmin was installed with Apt package manager. Therefore you need to specify the TEMP_DIR and CONFIG_DIR location under the vendor_config.php file.

Edit vendor_config.php file in your favorite text editor

sudo vim /usr/share/phpmyadmin/libraries/vendor_config.php

and update the following values.

define('TEMP_DIR', '/var/lib/phpmyadmin/tmp/');
define('CONFIG_DIR', '/etc/phpmyadmin/');

Save the file and access the phpMyAdmin in a web browser.

All done. In conclusion, you have the latest phpMyAdmin running on your Ubuntu system.