Posted by "Richard Lynch" on 10/12/05 23:22

On Tue, October 11, 2005 11:41 am, GamblerZG wrote:
> Recently, I asked my hosting provider when they are going to switch to
> PHP5. They replied that it will not happen any time soon, since they
> will install PHP5 only on new servers. Their reasoning was simple:

So ask them to move your account from the old server to the new server
and you get PHP5.

No big deal.

> <?php //parse this with mod_php4
> function class_method($var){ }
> ?>
> <?php5 //parse this with mod_php5
> class clazz implements Something{
> function method($var) {
> }
> }
> ?>

You'd need to have:
<?php //don't care which PHP
<?php4 //only PHP4 specific code
<?php5 //only PHP5

Then, the PHP Module would need to have both PHP4 and PHP5, and
conditionally execute vanilla/4/5 code within your page as it
processed it.

Anybody who's ever had to maintain C code with a bunch of conditional
platform-specific #ifdef code knows just how BAD a solution this is.

It's "fine" for an occasional, simple, minor difference at the beginning.

Then it turns into a nightmare of depedencies after a very brief period.

I don't think it's out of line for a host to NOT upgrade an existing
computer with 200+ clients, many of whom PROBABLY have installed and
not updated god-knows-what stupid Forum/Blog ware that will break and
have their clients all mad at them. Some of those packages probably
don't even HAVE PHP5-compatible versions yet, or at least not verions
you'd want to install on a production server.

Seems to me that your host should have offered to switch you to one of
the new PHP5 boxes, however, so you could have PHP5 if you want it.

Then everybody would be happy.

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