When will Blue Host have PHP 5.3?

[handcraftedweb]

If there's any projected date I'd like to know.

I have a large project coming up and I'd like to use PHP 5.3 namespaces. If it's going to be a while before bluehost gets PHP 5.3 I'll make do without namespaces.

Thanks,
...Mike

[TonyS]

No projected date. It'll likely happen suddenly with no warning, whenever the admins decide it's time to upgrade.

[handcraftedweb]

I just received a response from bluehost support. Official answer: "several months". Fair enough.

...Mike

[dkinzer]

It'll likely happen suddenly with no warning, [...].

And after the upgrade to v5.3, there will probably be quite a few websites that no longer work correctly or emit warning messages visible to users. This is why I wish BH would give at least some advance notice before upgrading major system components. I believe that my site's scripts are now compatible with PHP v5.3 but if I knew that an upgrade was scheduled for next week, I would be better prepared to handle any issues that might arise.

[felgall]

The problem is that with so many servers it actually takes quite a long while for BlueHost to upgrade them all and presumably they don't know when they will get to a given server as it depends on what issues they may have with the prior ones.

I agree it would be useful if they were to make an announcement somewhere that an upgrade were underway and that we can expect the change to take place some time over the next x weeks. If they were to email everyone in advance then sending out the millions of emails would add several days to the time it would take for each update.

[TonyS]

usually the admins will upgrade 50-100 boxes first to see if anything blows up, then push the update out to the rest of the servers.

dkinzer is correct though, the last few PHP updates have blown something up in php.ini requiring that file to be replaced on many accounts with a newer version.

Hopefully the next update will go more smoothly

[felgall]

I guess it depends on just how much you have in the php.ini - I only put the actual entries I am overriding in the php.ini and let it pick up the defaults for everything else so if the defaults change between versions my file isn't affected.

[TonyS]

That's a really good approach felgall. The problem is that a lot of BH clients use the default php.ini file that gets installed via the PHP Config screen in the cPanel, which has a lot of repeats of the server default settings. So, when the version changes, if there's an issue between the old defaults and the new defaults... KABOOM goes the site.

[felgall]

That's a really good approach felgall. The problem is that a lot of BH clients use the default php.ini file that gets installed via the PHP Config screen in the cPanel, which has a lot of repeats of the server default settings. So, when the version changes, if there's an issue between the old defaults and the new defaults... KABOOM goes the site.

I realise that. I mentioned the alternative way so that people who see this thread realise that there is a way they can change their php.ini to reduce the possibilities of an upgrade causing them problems.

[dodbits]

And after the upgrade to v5.3, there will probably be quite a few websites that no longer work correctly or emit warning messages visible to users.

PHP version 5.2.13 ... it has not happened yet? I was wondering because without any changes to my site for months... lots of errors and "you need a higher version of php" in my Joomla! admin back end... no new stuff installed and been rock solid for a year.

Has Bluehost changed the version recently?