Re: Why don't webhosts upgrade to PHP5 ?

Andy Pieters wrote:

On Wednesday 07 December 2005 08:37, Pugi! wrote:

My webhost doesn't want to upgrade to PHP5 because of security reasons and some scripts that will mallfunction. I find it hard to believe. Current

upgrade to php5 == "scripts that will mallfunction" == support calls == losing money. thats how I see the ISPs view of upgrading to php5, regardless of whether they are right for them it seems to be a simple matter of economics and operational stability. you also have to consider the ammount of work involved is purely performing the upgrade properly.

conf of webhost is PHP 4.3.11, Apache 1.3.33 and MySQL 3.23.49. What real reasons could there be not to upgrade ? How could I convince them to upgrade to PHP5 ? (Less important for me : but why not upgrade to Apache 2.x and at least MySQL 4.x ?)

1. If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

PHP4 _is_ broken in places. if it was perfect then there would be no need for improvement.

2. PHP 4 has proven its worth. Now that PHP 5 came out, there will be tons of bugs that aren't found yet.

rather defeatist attitude, and a point that cannot be truely substantiated. besides there is a point when it becomes too difficult to successfully enchance or add features to something (move forward) and you have to start 'fresh'.

3. PHP 5 *WILL* break some scripts, and most big suits like forums and shops and stuff will need a serious amount of work to convert to php 5

and some scripts are broken. there is a lot of code out there that is technically evil (potential segfaults etc) so this cuts boths ways. besides most apps [forums etc] out there arn't hard at all to convert - the problem for the developers of such apps is more likely to be about releasing versions that run on both (which is more difficult) or maintaining 2 releases, which eat into your time.

Same applies for Apache and MySQL. Consider this, NASA still uses 386 cpu's in their space equipment because they are a lot more stable and mission secure then newer chipsets.

are you sure its not because they have invested so much time and energy into the hardware, software and procedures surrounding the cpus. refitting a space shuttle is not done on a whim like your changing the cpu in the box under your desk... comparitive stability wirth newer models doesn't factor in at all if you consider that every part on a space shuttle could be assumed to only be authorized for use after it's absolute stability has been proven.

HTH Andy