diff --git a/examples/php/composer.json b/examples/php/composer.json
index a8b790b1de16c..d40b5db059eaa 100644
--- a/examples/php/composer.json
+++ b/examples/php/composer.json
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@
   "description": "gRPC example for PHP",
   "minimum-stability": "dev",
   "require": {
-    "grpc/grpc": "v0.15.0"
+    "grpc/grpc": "v0.15.2"
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/php/README.md b/src/php/README.md
index 8abedc40a3b38..7e9819b256da9 100644
--- a/src/php/README.md
+++ b/src/php/README.md
@@ -9,23 +9,12 @@ GA
 
 ## Environment
 
-Prerequisite: `php` >=5.5, `phpize`, `pecl`, `phpunit`
-
-**Linux (Debian):**
-
-```sh
-$ sudo apt-get install php5 php5-dev php-pear
-```
-
-**Linux (CentOS):**
-
-```sh
-$ yum install php55w
-$ yum --enablerepo=remi,remi-php55 install php-devel php-pear
-```
-
-**Mac OS X:**
+Prerequisite:
+* `php` 5.5 or above, 7.0 or above
+* `pear` and `pecl`
+* `phpunit`
 
+**PEAR:**
 ```sh
 $ curl -O http://pear.php.net/go-pear.phar
 $ sudo php -d detect_unicode=0 go-pear.phar
@@ -72,13 +61,7 @@ $ sudo make install
 
 ### gRPC PHP extension
 
-Install the gRPC PHP extension from PECL
-
-```sh
-$ sudo pecl install grpc
-```
-
-Or, compile from source
+Compile the gRPC PHP extension
 
 ```sh
 $ cd grpc/src/php/ext/grpc
@@ -148,12 +131,8 @@ Alternatively, you can download `protoc` binaries from [the protocol buffers Git
 You need to install `protoc-gen-php` to generate stub class `.php` files from service definition `.proto` files.
 
 ```sh
-$ cd grpc/src/php/vendor/stanley-cheung/protobuf-php # if you had run `composer install` in the previous step
-
-OR
-
-$ git clone https://github.com/stanley-cheung/Protobuf-PHP # clone from github repo
-
+$ git clone https://github.com/stanley-cheung/Protobuf-PHP
+$ cd Protobuf-PHP
 $ gem install rake ronn
 $ rake pear:package version=1.0
 $ sudo pear install Protobuf-1.0.tgz
@@ -175,7 +154,7 @@ Run a local server serving the math services. Please see [Node][] for how to run
 ```sh
 $ cd grpc
 $ npm install
-$ nodejs src/node/test/math/math_server.js
+$ node src/node/test/math/math_server.js
 ```
 
 ### Run test client
@@ -212,7 +191,7 @@ Make sure the Node math server is still running, as above.
 ```sh
 $ cd grpc
 $ npm install
-$ nodejs src/node/test/math/math_server.js
+$ node src/node/test/math/math_server.js
 ```
 
 Make sure you have run `composer install` to generate the `vendor/autoload.php` file
@@ -282,7 +261,7 @@ Make sure the Node math server is still running, as above.
 ```sh
 $ cd grpc
 $ npm install
-$ nodejs src/node/test/math/math_server.js
+$ node src/node/test/math/math_server.js
 ```
 
 Make sure you have run `composer install` to generate the `vendor/autoload.php` file
diff --git a/src/php/bin/determine_extension_dir.sh b/src/php/bin/determine_extension_dir.sh
index b4342ac89fa8e..a59882506f972 100755
--- a/src/php/bin/determine_extension_dir.sh
+++ b/src/php/bin/determine_extension_dir.sh
@@ -29,11 +29,7 @@
 # OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 set -e
 default_extension_dir=$(php-config --extension-dir)
-if command -v brew > /dev/null && \
-   brew ls --versions | grep php5[56]-grpc > /dev/null; then
-  # the grpc php extension was installed by homebrew
-  :
-elif [ ! -e $default_extension_dir/grpc.so ]; then
+if [ ! -e $default_extension_dir/grpc.so ]; then
   # the grpc extension is not found in the default PHP extension dir
   # try the source modules directory
   module_dir=../ext/grpc/modules
diff --git a/src/php/composer.json b/src/php/composer.json
index 88418206e82e6..1eacc643a22c0 100644
--- a/src/php/composer.json
+++ b/src/php/composer.json
@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@
   "version": "1.0.0",
   "require": {
     "php": ">=5.5.0",
-    "stanley-cheung/protobuf-php": "v0.6",
+    "stanley-cheung/protobuf-php": "v0.6"
+  },
+  "require-dev": {
     "google/auth": "v0.9"
   },
   "autoload": {