'Unable to install PHP 7.4 on Ubuntu 16.04 even with Ondrej PPA repository in apache2

I am trying to install PHP 7.4 on Ubuntu 16.04 for Apache2 server. To install the 7.4 version, I used PPA ondrej repository as follows:

sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y php7.4
php -v

I get the following error:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package php7.4
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'php7.4'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'php7.4'

I tried all the solutions mentioned in answer to this question:

Unable to install PHP 7.3 on Ubuntu 20.04

None of them helped. How can I install this package?

phpubuntuphp-7.4


Solution 1:[1]

Your OS Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial) is too old. Ondrej PPA only supports the following operating systems (as of 10 June 2021):

Hirsute (21.04), Groovy (20.10), Focal (20.04), Bionic (18.04)

Which is why there is no package found.

Solution 2:[2]

I ran into this recently. Luckily, I found a repo containing archives of the original Ondrej PPA. You will be able to install php7.4 and extensions. However, I'd be careful with any archives as they can have a security risk.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tomvlk/php-archive
sudo apt-get update

Solution 3:[3]

Here are installation instructions for ZendPHP repository - https://help.zend.com/zendphp/current/content/installation/installation.htm

The ZendPHP installation package replaces Ubuntu 16.04 distribution's PHP and supports PHP 5.6, PHP 7.1, PHP 7.2, PHP 7.3, and PHP 7.4 on Ubuntu 16.04. Zend also offers PHP LTS for versions that are EOL and no longer receiving high and critical security patches

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution Source
Solution 1
Solution 2 Thabo Moyo
Solution 3 Ryan Krszjzaniek

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