Has anyone actually tried asking BlueHost what their schedule is for implementing the newer version?
Moderator
Has anyone actually tried asking BlueHost what their schedule is for implementing the newer version?
Member
Sure, the answer received today wasOriginally Posted by felgall
"It may be eventually, however we do not have a time-frame for when this will happen. I'm sorry."
Hopeless Lurker (& BH SysAdmin)
PHP 5.3.6 is on the horizon (the current build is battling its way through QA). There isn't a firm timetable for deployment, but once it is green lighted it will be a slow and cautious roll to all customer servers since some issues often don't bubble up until you reach a critical mass. Additional details will be emailed prior to upgrades.
Junior Member
I for one do not what to see any upgrades, which will cause me to have to go in and recode pages. To Bluehost's credit they have never installed any upgrades with-out letting users known way in advance.
Member
Actually Bluehost has in the past made system changes without warning that broke my site. To their credit they seem to have abandoned that behavior and now generally give notice of impending changes and scheduled outages.
According to PHP.NET: "All PHP users should note that the PHP 5.2 series is NOT supported anymore. All users are strongly encouraged to upgrade to PHP 5.3.6." Get used to the idea that at some point in the future, Bluehost will drop PHP 5.2. As I mentioned in a prior posting any pain the upgrade may cause can be mitigated by installing a WAMP/MAMP server on your local machine, then testing, fixing and installing the updated code on BH prior to a possible forced migration. I updated my site well over a year ago, although I am unable to use any 5.3 only features. Many of my issues were fixed by changing split to preg_split, YMMV. Be sure to turn on All Errors including Notices during your testing. For a complete list of 5.2->5.3 changes visit this link. http://php.net/manual/en/migration53.php Obviously if you are using an outdated PHP based package, you must wait for the package provider to upgrade their code.
Junior Member
PHP 5.3 support
Bluehost Support Team said:
You can use PHP 5.3.3, but you will need to install PHP manually into your account. In order to do so you will need to download the binary files for PHP 5.3.3, upload them into your account, then compile them using SSH. Once compiled on your account you will need to change your PHP.ini file to reference the PHP folder in your account rather than the shared PHP libraries.
Member
Sounds like something I want to do after smashing a few fingers with a hammer. I really don't understand the bit about compiling with SSH. There were also some PHP.ini parameter changes from 5.2 to 5.3.
Just wondering if BH could make a shared 5.3 "official version" and ini file available so we could simply point to it or use it as desired. It would make it easier for us users and likely for BH. (I know: BH does not read or respond to these things.)
Junior Member
Totally going to echo whats been mentioned in this thread. I spent all morning trying to compile PHP 5.3.6 and redirect my php.ini accordingly to no avail. I grew frustrated and ultimately gave up. Hope that one of these days BH at least gives us the option to select 5.3 as they once did with PHP 4/5.
Bluehost Employee
Yes we really do read and respond to these things arnb :P
PHP 5.3 of course is a huge priority that our admins are not taking lightly. We are doing extensive testing with 5.3 and the most favorable option so far is to run it side by side with PHP 5.2.17 the same way we ran PHP 4 next to PHP 5.x.xx etc. This is not a for sure done deal yet but it's one of the possibilities. As for an eta unfortunately that is the hardest part to say. Our testing is resulting in unfavorable results and we prefer to make sure it will be rock solid before we go live. We hear your cries for 5.3 but it's just not possible at this time and we really do appreciate your patience with us as we (despite what you might think) appreciate you all!
Junior Member
Hi There. I completely understand testing is necessary in order to qualify the upgrade. That being said, providing indeterminate reports makes it difficult to plan for the future. It would be extremely helpful if the admins or likewise would provide some sort of progress report of sorts. Without a transparent development plan, I'm left with the decision of having to use a different provider. I would rather not go that route. Moreover, isn't it possible to set up an option by which the user can set the level of php? Thanks.
