[development] PHP version stats

[Earnie Boyd]

Quoting John Ackers <john.ackers at mail.com>:

> I have discussed PHP5 support with my hosting company and they are not
> interested (because existing PHP4 code does not execute the same under
> PHP5).
>
> I notice that some hosting companies ask you specify PHP 4 or 5 at the
> time you sign up, presumably because customers are put on different
> hosts, see http://www.wesh.co.uk/.  This seems ridiculous to me.
>
> I think that the hosting companies would be comfortable if they could
> install PHP4 and PHP5 as separate modules under apache (often 1.x)  i.e.
> no use of CGI or FastCGI.  The specific version invoked from a PHP code
> embedded into a web page would need to be configurable by virtual host
> in .htaccess or somewhere else - assuming this was possible.
>
> I think the PHP folk do need provide an upgrade path for shared hosts if
> they want us to abandon PHP4 (and its horrible Object support).
>

It sounds to me that PHP5 needs patched to execute PHP4 on command.  
Then you can control which PHP API version to follow from within the 
code.  NOT.

It is a chicken and egg thing, AKA Catch 22.  The source code providers 
are lagging because the WEB providers are lagging.  The WEB providers 
are lagging because the source code providers are lagging.

Would it not be possible to execute a second instance of apache giving 
a configuration file other than the default one that pointed its 
virtual services to php5?  I think I'll go try this now.

Earnie