Akeeba Backup for Joomla!

Monday, 20 August 2012 05:12 CDT

user58706

Mandatory information about my setup:

Have I read the related troubleshooter articles above before posting (which pages?)? y
Have I searched the tickets before posting? y
Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)? y
Joomla! version: 2.5.4
PHP version: 5.2.11
MySQL version: 5.0.95
Host: (optional, but it helps us help you)
Akeeba Backup version: 3.6.2

***************

I have contacted my hosting company and they advise me not to upgrade my php version. This is what they say.
Hi,
If you want us to update it we can however at this time it is HIGHLY recommended that you don't. PHP 5.3 is not downward compatible meaning any sites you have using PHP 5.2 will not work on 5.3. It's not a security concern at this point at all however in about 6-8 months we may upgrade it once PHP 5.3 is backwards compatible.
Thanks
HostUpon Support Team
www.hostupon.com

I have tried to remedy the situation according to the instructions shown on the big yellow warning. I've changed the permissions, entered my correct FTP contact info into the Global Configuration, but Joomla will not let me enable FTP.

I'm very concerned that PHP 5.3 is not backwards compatible and I am afraid changing my php will screw up my other website accounts (of which I have many).

Is there a solution or do I need to downgrade to the previous version of Backup?

Thanks,
Doug

Monday, 20 August 2012 05:18 CDT

nicholas

PHP 5.3 is not downward compatible

This is, pardon me for using this word, bullshit. There were very small compatibility issues which mostly had to do with the way protected class members interact with descendants. All Joomla! CMS versions and components published in the last 12 months have dealt with them. To the best of my knowledge there is no extension capable of running on Joomla! 2.5 which doesn't support PHP 5.3. That's why I waited until Joomla! 1.5's end of life to drop PHP 5.2 support; some extensions for Joomla! 1.5 were not ready for PHP 5.3 and no longer maintained.

You should upgrade to PHP 5.3.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Monday, 20 August 2012 05:33 CDT

user58706

Thanks for clarifying the PHP 5.3 compatibility issue and that any Joomla 2.5 websites are completely safe.

What about Joomla 1.5 sites? I take it then that J 1.5 sites would be effected by a php upgrade?

Thanks again,
Doug

Monday, 20 August 2012 05:38 CDT

nicholas

With Joomla! 1.5 sites it depends. If all extensions you're using (including templates) are in versions published within the last 12 months then they are compatible with PHP 5.3. Only very old versions of extensions will not be compatible, but these will probably also have other problems (bugs, security issues) as well.

I see that you have upgraded to PHP 5.4 in the meantime. PHP 5.4 does introduce some backwards-incompatible changes. A common practice in the past was using assign-by-reference. It was valid in PHP 5.2, threw a notice in PHP 5.3 and now considered a fatal error in PHP 5.4. If you suddenly get blank pages you'll have to downgrade to PHP 5.3.

BTW, PHP 5.4 is no longer in "dev mode" :) Since PHP 5.4.4 it is considered production quality, as long as all backwards-incompatible changes in the code have been taken to account. Joomla! 2.5.4 and later is fully compatible with PHP 5.4. So is all of my software published since May. I can't say for sure about other major extensions. PHP 5.4 is fairly new and not all extensions have caught up with the changes it requires.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Monday, 20 August 2012 06:01 CDT

user58706

Sorry to take up your time, I'm just curious how you know I have upgraded my PHP to 5.4? I am looking at my Cpanel and it shows I have 5.2.11

I host websites by reselling space that I buy to my clients. Most of the websites I host are Joomla 1.5 and since a PHP upgrade is server wide, this could (most likely would) effect some of my sites since they are a few years old. I don't manage or control some of them. I'm getting the impression that I'm damned if I upgrade and damned if I don't.

Monday, 20 August 2012 06:20 CDT

nicholas

Oops, sorry. The PHP 5.4 comment was supposed to go to a different thread with a similar question and a nearly identical title. The other user had already upgraded to PHP 5.4 while I was typing my reply. Switching back and forth the two I ended up typing the rest of my response to the wrong window :s

If you have old sites on Joomla! 1.5 which are beyond your control I'd recommend using two VPS on your server. One one VPS you can keep the old sites running on PHP 5.2. On the other VPS you can have the newer sites running on PHP 5.3. In the very near future (October) Joomla! 3.0 will be released. It will require PHP 5.3 to work. All developers are abandoning PHP 5.2. If you stick with PHP 5.2 you'll end up with non-upgradeable sites. You don't want this to happen. It's best to pay for two VPS to have your old and new sites separated. Besides, old sites pose a security threat. If one of them gets hacked the chances are all other sites can be easily hacked. Isolating them from the new and maintained sites is always a great idea.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

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