Debian 13 fresh espocrm installation

[shootify]

Hi Guys,

I’m setting up a native EspoCRM installation on Debian 13 (Trixie) using the default system stack (Apache + PHP + MariaDB, no Docker).

Everything installs and runs fine with the default PHP 8.4, and I was able to complete the installation wizard successfully. However, I ran into an issue regarding IMAP support:

• Debian 13 default PHP = 8.4
• The traditional php-imap package is not available in stable repos
• From what I understand, IMAP was moved to PECL in PHP 8.4
• EspoCRM documentation still lists php-imap as a requirement for inbound email functionality

My questions:

I need inbound email fetching (IMAP) for production use. Questions:
What is the recommended approach for EspoCRM on Debian 13 with PHP 8.4?

1. Should I:
   • Switch to PHP 8.3 (e.g., via SURY) to get php-imap, OR
   • use older version of debian?
   • Install IMAP via PECL / experimental packages, OR
   • Is there an updated/alternative method EspoCRM recommends for PHP 8.4 environments?

Please let me know,
thanks for your time and help.

[ThomasB]

I do not know much about it and just found out this will be an issue for Ubuntu 26.04 as well because it will not offer a php-imap package too.

Some say install IMAP via PECL or switch to an alternative libary. Some suggested: https://github.com/Webklex/php-imap

[shootify]

Is there any official statement about this from the developers?