diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/generic.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/generic.nix
index b8ceac621a61..74dedcfe2d18 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/php/generic.nix
@@ -333,6 +333,7 @@ let
             description = "An HTML-embedded scripting language";
             homepage = "https://www.php.net/";
             license = licenses.php301;
+            mainProgram = "php";
             maintainers = teams.php.members;
             platforms = platforms.all;
             outputsToInstall = [ "out" "dev" ];