[wp-hackers] Drop PHP4 support entirely?

[Jamie Holly]

They were reluctant at first because PHP5 had a bunch of issues with performance and stability. PHP5.1 was a lot better, but a lot were waiting to see how PHP 5.2 would pan out (which has been great).

A few hosting companies I have talked to are planning on offering PHP5.2, they are just working on the logistics of how. They need to keep PHP4 available for older apps, and want to make it as simple as possible to switch between the two. Overriding the handler is a great solution, but it will result in a ton of support calls/tickets. It might seem easy to us to modify our htaccess files, but to the average user (John and Jane doe who decided to start a blog to share their family vacation pictures), you might as well be asking them to become full fledge developers. Work for a hosting company and you will see what I mean. I did it for about 6 months years ago and would never do it again. You are lucky to get 1 in 50 customers that even know there is a difference between Apache and PHP (and of course it is like anything else - it's easier to ask support then it is to check the help/faq section hehe). 

Jamie Holly
http://www.intoxination.net

> -----Original Message-----
> From: wp-hackers-bounces at lists.automattic.com [mailto:wp-hackers-
> bounces at lists.automattic.com] On Behalf Of Computer Guru
> Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2007 4:31 AM
> To: wp-hackers at lists.automattic.com
> Subject: RE: [wp-hackers] Drop PHP4 support entirely?
> 
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> 
> Well, has anyone spoken directly to the hosts about WHY they're
> reluctant to switch?
> At first, it may have been PHP5 incompatibility with various server
> setups and scripts. But now?
> 
> It may be just laziness, but for THREE years? Maybe they have a good
> reason. More than likely, they don't but just need a push in the right
> direction.
> 
> It's not exactly rocket science to deploy PHP on Linux - and even on
> Windows it isn't so difficult that it warrants a 3 year delay.
> 
> Instead of identifying the problem (lack of PHP5 support), let us
> identify the obstacles in the way.
> 
> 
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