Magento 2.1 setup readiness check fails – PHP version is empty

If the Magento 2.1 setup readiness check fails with an error message displaying nothing for the PHP version, similar to this:

PHP Version Check
Your PHP version is . The required PHP version is . Hide detail

You might also see error messages about open basedir restrictions, similar to this:

Cannot determine required PHP extensions: Warning: is_dir(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/etc/pki/tls/certs) is not within the allowed path(s):

The reason can be that Magento is by default expecting SSL/TLS. If not used, the above can occur.

Solution:

Edit the composer.json file and add a line to the config section so it looks like this:

 "config": {
  "use-include-path": true,
  "disable-tls": true
 },

I.e. add the line “disable-tls”: true (and don’t forget to add a “,” last on the preceding line). Now restart the setup.