diff --git a/misc/tools.func b/misc/tools.func
index ea8dfd43f..7f576c814 100644
--- a/misc/tools.func
+++ b/misc/tools.func
@@ -396,9 +396,10 @@ function setup_php() {
     COMBINED_MODULES="${DEFAULT_MODULES}"
   fi
 
-  # Deduplicate modules
+  # Deduplicate
   COMBINED_MODULES=$(echo "$COMBINED_MODULES" | tr ',' '\n' | awk '!seen[$0]++' | paste -sd, -)
 
+  # Get current PHP-CLI version
   local CURRENT_PHP=""
   if command -v php >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     CURRENT_PHP=$(php -v 2>/dev/null | awk '/^PHP/{print $2}' | cut -d. -f1,2)
@@ -420,53 +421,43 @@ function setup_php() {
     $STD apt-get update
   fi
 
+  # Build module list
   local MODULE_LIST="php${PHP_VERSION}"
-  for pkg in $MODULE_LIST; do
-    if ! apt-cache show "$pkg" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-      msg_error "Package not found: $pkg"
-      exit 1
-    fi
-  done
-
   IFS=',' read -ra MODULES <<<"$COMBINED_MODULES"
   for mod in "${MODULES[@]}"; do
-    MODULE_LIST+=" php${PHP_VERSION}-${mod}"
+    if apt-cache show "php${PHP_VERSION}-${mod}" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+      MODULE_LIST+=" php${PHP_VERSION}-${mod}"
+    else
+      msg_warn "PHP-Module ${mod} for PHP ${PHP_VERSION} not found – skipping"
+    fi
   done
-
   if [[ "$PHP_FPM" == "YES" ]]; then
     MODULE_LIST+=" php${PHP_VERSION}-fpm"
   fi
+
+  # install apache2 with PHP support if requested
   if [[ "$PHP_APACHE" == "YES" ]]; then
-    $STD apt-get install -y apache2 libapache2-mod-php${PHP_VERSION}
-    $STD systemctl restart apache2 || true
-  fi
-
-  if [[ "$PHP_APACHE" == "YES" ]] && [[ -n "$CURRENT_PHP" ]]; then
-    if [[ -f /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/php${CURRENT_PHP}.load ]]; then
-      $STD a2dismod php${CURRENT_PHP} || true
+    if ! dpkg -l | grep -q "libapache2-mod-php${PHP_VERSION}"; then
+      $STD msg_info "Installing Apache with PHP${PHP_VERSION} support"
+      $STD apt-get install -y apache2 libapache2-mod-php"${PHP_VERSION}"
+      $STD msg_ok "Setup Apache with PHP${PHP_VERSION}"
     fi
-    $STD a2enmod php${PHP_VERSION}
-    $STD systemctl restart apache2 || true
   fi
 
-  if [[ "$PHP_FPM" == "YES" ]] && [[ -n "$CURRENT_PHP" ]]; then
-    $STD systemctl stop php${CURRENT_PHP}-fpm || true
-    $STD systemctl disable php${CURRENT_PHP}-fpm || true
-  fi
-
-  $STD apt-get install -y $MODULE_LIST
+  # setup / update PHP modules
+  $STD apt-get install -y "$MODULE_LIST"
   msg_ok "Setup PHP $PHP_VERSION"
 
-  if [[ "$PHP_FPM" == "YES" ]]; then
-    $STD systemctl enable php${PHP_VERSION}-fpm
-    $STD systemctl restart php${PHP_VERSION}-fpm
+  # optional stop old PHP-FPM service
+  if [[ "$PHP_FPM" == "YES" && -n "$CURRENT_PHP" && "$CURRENT_PHP" != "$PHP_VERSION" ]]; then
+    $STD systemctl stop php"${CURRENT_PHP}"-fpm || true
+    $STD systemctl disable php"${CURRENT_PHP}"-fpm || true
   fi
 
   # Patch all relevant php.ini files
   local PHP_INI_PATHS=("/etc/php/${PHP_VERSION}/cli/php.ini")
   [[ "$PHP_FPM" == "YES" ]] && PHP_INI_PATHS+=("/etc/php/${PHP_VERSION}/fpm/php.ini")
   [[ "$PHP_APACHE" == "YES" ]] && PHP_INI_PATHS+=("/etc/php/${PHP_VERSION}/apache2/php.ini")
-
   for ini in "${PHP_INI_PATHS[@]}"; do
     if [[ -f "$ini" ]]; then
       $STD msg_info "Patching $ini"
@@ -477,6 +468,28 @@ function setup_php() {
       $STD msg_ok "Patched $ini"
     fi
   done
+
+  # patch Apache configuration if needed
+  if [[ "$PHP_APACHE" == "YES" ]]; then
+    for mod in $(ls /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/ 2>/dev/null | grep -E '^php[0-9]\.[0-9]\.conf$' | sed 's/\.conf//'); do
+      if [[ "$mod" != "php${PHP_VERSION}" ]]; then
+        $STD a2dismod "$mod" || true
+      fi
+    done
+    $STD a2enmod mpm_prefork
+    $STD a2enmod "php${PHP_VERSION}"
+    $STD systemctl restart apache2 || true
+  fi
+
+  # enable and restart PHP-FPM if requested
+  if [[ "$PHP_FPM" == "YES" ]]; then
+    if systemctl list-unit-files | grep -q "php${PHP_VERSION}-fpm.service"; then
+      $STD systemctl enable php"${PHP_VERSION}"-fpm
+      $STD systemctl restart php"${PHP_VERSION}"-fpm
+    else
+      msg_warn "FPM requested but service php${PHP_VERSION}-fpm not found"
+    fi
+  fi
 }
 
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -794,7 +807,7 @@ function fetch_and_deploy_gh_release() {
   local max_retries=3 retry_delay=2 attempt=1 success=false resp http_code
 
   while ((attempt <= max_retries)); do
-    resp=$(curl $api_timeout -fsSL -w "%{http_code}" -o /tmp/gh_rel.json "${header[@]}" "$api_url") && success=true && break
+    resp=$(curl "$api_timeout" -fsSL -w "%{http_code}" -o /tmp/gh_rel.json "${header[@]}" "$api_url") && success=true && break
     sleep "$retry_delay"
     ((attempt++))
   done
@@ -832,7 +845,7 @@ function fetch_and_deploy_gh_release() {
     [[ -z "$url" ]] && url="https://github.com/$repo/archive/refs/tags/v$version.tar.gz"
     filename="${app_lc}-${version}.tar.gz"
 
-    curl $download_timeout -fsSL -o "$tmpdir/$filename" "$url" || {
+    curl "$download_timeout" -fsSL -o "$tmpdir/$filename" "$url" || {
       msg_error "Download failed: $url"
       rm -rf "$tmpdir"
       return 1
@@ -888,7 +901,7 @@ function fetch_and_deploy_gh_release() {
     fi
 
     filename="${url_match##*/}"
-    curl $download_timeout -fsSL -o "$tmpdir/$filename" "$url_match" || {
+    curl "$download_timeout" -fsSL -o "$tmpdir/$filename" "$url_match" || {
       msg_error "Download failed: $url_match"
       rm -rf "$tmpdir"
       return 1
@@ -931,7 +944,7 @@ function fetch_and_deploy_gh_release() {
     }
 
     filename="${asset_url##*/}"
-    curl $download_timeout -fsSL -o "$tmpdir/$filename" "$asset_url" || {
+    curl "$download_timeout" -fsSL -o "$tmpdir/$filename" "$asset_url" || {
       msg_error "Download failed: $asset_url"
       rm -rf "$tmpdir"
       return 1
@@ -1007,7 +1020,7 @@ function fetch_and_deploy_gh_release() {
     local target_file="$app"
     [[ "$use_filename" == "true" ]] && target_file="$filename"
 
-    curl $download_timeout -fsSL -o "$target/$target_file" "$asset_url" || {
+    curl "$download_timeout" -fsSL -o "$target/$target_file" "$asset_url" || {
       msg_error "Download failed: $asset_url"
       rm -rf "$tmpdir"
       return 1