Posted by "Richard Lynch" on 10/14/05 22:28

On Thu, October 13, 2005 7:07 pm, GamblerZG wrote:
> Richard Lynch wrote:
> >> PHP developers assume that PHP5 will be frequently used to parse
> PHP4
> >> scripts. Why?
> > Because that's how the real world works.
>
> "The real world" works that way because, as you just said, installing
> 2
> php modules side by side is a "great deal of system administration".

There are more complications than that.

If it was JUST setting up a second server and providing clients with a
way to use 4 or 5, their choice, it would be a breeze.

The problem with changing a whole server over is that a BUNCH of
clients will come screaming because you broke their web-site.

>>>And what's so horrible about using separate engines to
>>>run
>>>php 4 and 5 scripts?
>>
>>
>> Nothing, if you can identify which are which, and have the
>> infrastructure to set up both and...
>>
>> It's a great deal of system administration
>
> Let me get it straight. There are two ways of running PHP four and
> five
> on one server. First one is by using five's compatibility mode, and it
> breaks some of the old scripts.

Breaking old scripts is clearly not an option.

> The second one is by using two
> different
> apache modules. It *does not break anything*, but it's a pain to
> setup.
>
> Judging sheerly by functionality and compatibility the second ways is
> better.
>
> However, judging from what I know about PHP, nobody tries to make that
> way easier, because everybody assume that everyone else use the first
> way. Is it good old catch 22 in action, or are there some design
> considerations I'm not aware of?

A great number of people have worked on, and are working on, ways to
make this easier.

Most people, however, find it more practical to simply have 2
different server configurations (old and new) and migrate clients onto
the new server slowly, at the CLIENT'S pace, instead of losing
customers by just trashing their site out from under them.

I don't think the largest host is the best measure of what's easy or
hard -- Presumably pair has more resources and different needs from
the company running a handful of shared servers for a few hundred, or
even a couple thousand clients all told.

Certainly if I had to choose between php5 CGI and php4 as Module, I'd
go with 4. PHP CGI has too many "gotchas" that always end up with my
nose grinding against a brick wall.

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