PHP5 for Unix

We're going to begin upgrading PHP on all our Unix servers to version 5.2.1. We will also be upgrading FreeBSD to version 6.1, and there will be other minor software updates. Each server will need to be rebooted during the upgrade. Unix27 will be the first server upgraded on April 30th at 4 PM EDT. After everything goes smoothly with that server, we will post a schedule for the rest of the servers.

Unix28, which was just turned on, is already running PHP 5.2.1. All new signups will now go to this server. Since we are upgrading the other servers, we will not be transferring existing accounts to this server. **Any requests to move to unix28 will be rejected.**

To make the transition to PHP5 easier, we're enabling the zend.ze1_compatibility_mode directive by default. For true PHP5 functionality, you can disable this directive by putting the following line in an htaccess file in your web root:

php_flag zend.ze1_compatibility_mode Off

You can view the PHP Manual for more information on PHP5:
http://us2.php.net/manual/en/migration5.php
http://us2.php.net/manual/en/faq.migration5.php

Please make sure your sites are compatible with PHP5 before your server is upgraded!! We will not be responsible for any downtime resulting from incompatible PHP code.

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Upgrade schedule: http://forum.vortechhosting.com/showthread-t_12038.html

[powvex]

why not having php4 and php5 both in servers?

[kattouf]

Is php5 backward compatible? or is oscommerce and phpbb going to break?

[Ballyhoo]

Originally Posted by Josh

To make the transition to PHP5 easier, we're enabling the zend.ze1_compatibility_mode directive by default. For true PHP5 functionality, you can disable this directive by putting the following line in an htaccess file in your web root:
php_flag zend.ze1_compatibility_mode Off

If I understand this right...Upgrading to PHP5 will not break PHP4 apps.

Originally Posted by Josh

Please make sure your sites are compatible with PHP5 before your server is upgraded!!

These two statements don't seem to coincide.

Originally Posted by powvex

why not having php4 and php5 both in servers?

HSphere does not support that.

Originally Posted by kattouf

Is php5 backward compatible? or is oscommerce and phpbb going to break?

Its mostly backward compatible. I suggest reading their documentation for a full understanding of the differences between PHP4 and PHP5. You should be able to check the documentation of 3rd party software to see if they will work with PHP5.

Originally Posted by Ballyhoo

If I understand this right...Upgrading to PHP5 will not break PHP4 apps.

Not everything that works in PHP4 will work in PHP5, but most things should. The zend.ze1_compatibility_mode directive doesn't turn PHP5 into PHP4. It isn't a cure all. Please read the PHP documentation for more information on it.

[powvex]

Josh, what is it to do with Hsphere? cant you create an instance like PHP4 extension to run for 4 version? it's easily will be done on any apache machine that I've tried...

[powvex]

also forgot this; yes some of PHP4 scripts will broke under 5. they need some little modifications. but I repeat; *SOME*, not all of php4 scripts.
strongly suggest you look into php documents before this upgrade take place.

[ixie02]

Can someone start a thread so we can share problems that we incurr with php5 compatablility? I'm sure we all hate it when our clients discover problems before we do and I'm sure we are better problem sniffer outers than the documentation!

Originally Posted by powvex

Josh, what is it to do with Hsphere? cant you create an instance like PHP4 extension to run for 4 version? it's easily will be done on any apache machine that I've tried...

HSphere uses vhost files to enable PHP on each domain. To have both on the server, we would have to enable them globally for everyone. That would take away the option for resellers to control the use of PHP. There are also some complications with our custom vPHP module.

[PeterD]

How about php5 on Windows, any news there?

[Brangwyn]

That would take away the option for resellers to control the use of PHP

As PHP is arguably the language of choice for developers on Unix I don't really see that as a problem, probably only effect a very small percentage of folks, It's a pity you can't run both side by side like other HSphere hosts do.

[Ballyhoo]

Originally Posted by Josh

That would take away the option for resellers to control the use of PHP.

Is someone actually charging extra or restricting the use of PHP in their plans?

[PeterD]

It wouldn't surprise me if someone's charging for scripting vs static hosting. I know of an ISP/host here that charges $10/mth just to have one MySQL database on an account.

[Brangwyn]

There may well be a few who do, but I'd be prety confident in saying they would be the minority ... lets face it, everyone pretty much expects everything to be thrown in for free with their hosting nowadays.