PHP version

[yavindu]

I've created a web app using PHP version 5.12.If I host this in a server which supports PHP version 5.3+ will it be a problem.If so how can I update PHP version.I'm using Apache2triad as my server.

Thanks.

[pritaeas]

You may get deprecated warnings, which are not a problem yet, but may be in the future. Do you have PHP running locally on your computer? Tools like xampp and wampserver allow you to use the newer php version easily (as your tool is no longer maintained according to the website).

[Banderson]

I doubt very seriously that you will be able to deploy an app running under that version.
Even so I would not recommend it. That version of PHP is 7 years old.
It has major security flaws in it. If you decide to deploy it under that version I would expect to get hacked.

You should try to use a local version which is the same as (or as close as possible to) your remote version. If your local version is newer than the remote, then some functions may not be available on remote. In this case, you should contact your host to see when they envisage upgrading php for you. If they're using an old version and don't have any immediate plans to upgrade, perhaps you should consider changing hosts.

Using an old local version, as mentioned, could cause problems too with deprecation notices, or evenfeature/function removal in the future.

You should also be aware that Windows versions can differ slightly from Linux (prob. remote version). I'm thinking about DateTime functions in particular. There is a big difference in VC6 and VC9 versions. If possible, use VC9.

As Banderson states 5.1.2 is ancient - don't use it!

[Atli]

Banderson, What major security flaws? That's something I've never heard about. It's no longer being maintained, but I don't remember ever hearing there were any major security issues with that version.

I'm also not getting why deploying an app on an outdated server would be hard? If the host is running 5.1 (which is, sadly, not uncommon) then deploying the code would be no harder than doing so no a server running the current versions.

pritaeas and diafol make a good point though. It's very easy to set up local servers running PHP, so testing your code locally on more up-to-date versions wouldn't be hard. - Even setting up a Linux based server to test on wouldn't be hard, even for a Windows user. VirtualBox + Ubuntu Server are pretty much idiot proof for testing out-of-the-box LAMP servers.

[Banderson]

Have a look:
Click Here

[cereal]

@Atli
One to take in account is this: http://www.php.net/archive/2012.php#id2012-05-03-1
It referes to 5.3 and previous versions. Here's some info: http://www.daniweb.com/web-development/php/threads/422387/vulnerability-in-php-cgi

VirtualBox + Ubuntu Server are pretty much idiot proof for testing out-of-the-box LAMP servers.

Not idiot-proof. I spent a whole day trying to get Ubuntu (and then Mint) to behave nicely with Oracle VM VirtualBox. It still told me to p### off. :(
There's no way I'm going back to grub, but 'painless VM' is an oxymoron methinks :)

[Atli]

Have a look:
Click Here

Thanks, that's very useful. I've never found a reliable collection site like that before. (Some unreliable sites though.) - Have to admit, though, I haven't exactly gone overboard looking for them. I just tend to read the overviews from a couple of PHP focused news sites. Probably not a big surprise I miss things like that :)

@Atli
One to take in account is this: http://www.php.net/archive/2012.php#id2012-05-03-1

This would affect very few hosts though. I mean, I'm certainly not promoting staying with outdated versions, but what you reference there only seems to affect mod_cgi, which is an exceedingly rare way to set up PHP hosts. At least in the last 10+ years. Most either use mod_php for Apache or one of the FastCGI setups, neither of which are apparently affected.

Not idiot-proof. I spent a whole day trying to get Ubuntu (and then Mint) to behave nicely with Oracle VM VirtualBox. It still told me to p### off. :(
There's no way I'm going back to grub, but 'painless VM' is an oxymoron methinks :)

Really? That's completely at odds with my own experience. I've been running Ubuntu test servers on VirtualBox for years now, and I've always found the setup very simple. Only problem I ever had was with an old PC that had some CPU featuers missing, making it impossible to use x64 guests. Solution was to just run a x86 version of Ubuntu instead.

Really? That's completely at odds with my own experience.

Yes, but there again, you're not an idiot. Myself, on the other hand...

[Atli]

I don't know about that. At least you didn't have to Google the definition of "oxymoron" :)