ProcessWire 2.4 (possible to run on PHP 5.3.3?)

[renobird]

Asked this here first, but decided it needed it's own topic.

 

OK, so I have a site running PW 2.3.7, and the server is running PHP 5.3.3.

There are no plans to upgrade the server to 5.3.8+ until later this year.

 

Any options for still be able to run 2.4 in this environment?

Is it something that *might* work?

[ryan]

You'll want to test ahead of time, but I think it'll still work. There are some bugs and security issues in PHP 5.3 versions prior to 5.3.8, which are good reasons for nobody to use those versions. That's the main reason I set 5.3.8 as the minimum. But the reality is that it should still work fine in any 5.3. Chances are it would still work fine in 5.2 as well, but I want to take that monkey off our back so we can move forward. 

[horst]

hey renobird, I'm not sure if someone including Ryan could give a proper answer to that, but searching for enhancements with PHP 5.3.8 or looking only to the fixes between 5.3.3 and 5.3.8

• http://php.net/releases/5_3_4.php
• http://php.net/releases/5_3_5.php
• http://php.net/releases/5_3_6.php
• http://php.net/releases/5_3_7.php
• http://php.net/releases/5_3_8.php

are good points to rethink about upgrading PHP.

Otherwise you just have to try, I think.

EDIT:

Ok, while writing my answer, Ryans answer came in, and he can give a proper answer! (I haven't thought)

Edited February 12, 2014 by horst

[renobird]

Thanks guys,

I'm going to make backups of everything as it is now and give it a shot.

Worst case scenario is I have to revert back.

I'll keep you posted.

[renobird]

So far it's running without issue on PHP 5.2.17. — of course it does.

I'll keep a close eye on it over the next few weeks.

Also, just spent some quality time exploring how the admin themes work as modules. So good!

[teppo]

There are some bugs and security issues in PHP 5.3 versions prior to 5.3.8, which are good reasons for nobody to use those versions. That's the main reason I set 5.3.8 as the minimum. But the reality is that it should still work fine in any 5.3. 

Tested and so far working fine in PHP 5.3.2.

Not that I'd be against updating PHP (I'm not!) but it should still be noted that most GNU/Linux distros backport security updates to bundled PHP versions. At this particular server I'm, for an example, running PHP 5.3.2-1ubuntu4.22 -- so technically it's not same thing as "vanilla" PHP 5.3.2.

As long as you're using PHP bundled with your distro and a distro that takes security seriously, you should be safe. As long as that particular distro version is supported, that is