DanielP
Active member
From my experience, "decent" and "shared host" are mutually exclusive
That's not always the case
Are you still using PHP 5.x? Why?
- Thread starter Chris D
- Start date
That's not always the case
sbj
Well-known member
Well of course you are right, but it is like in Christmas morning (although I am a Muslim) when you can't wait to open the presents and play with them. Even though sometimes you won't find the present very useful, still being able to "play" with it could be nice.
Anyway, if XF makes officially steps towards newer php versions, there is no reason to stay behind, which by your statement will be the case in future very likely.
DanielP
Active member
Sometimes CentOS takes the old and stable route a bit too far. Although it's not too terribly difficult to upgrade to newer versions with additional repos.
DanielP
Active member
I find that people are split into three groups.
Those who know and care to keep things updated. That's your PHP 7.x group. They keep the software updated, focus on security etc.
Then you have the group that just doesn't know any better, this group is split 50/50, the only time they will upgrade is when a new feature requires it, and a message is displayed to them saying XYZ won't work unless you do "this".
The third group is the "If It ain't broke don't fix it" group. These just don't change a thing, don't wanna fool with it and are abhorrently against any change at all.
Sadly we still have a few legacy customers running CentOS 4x and PHP 4.. because they have invested too much money into software product XYZ and never thought about the future or upgrading it. Thankfully CloudLinux has helped this a lot with back porting security patches for PHP but some folks just don't wanna change.
Those who know and care to keep things updated. That's your PHP 7.x group. They keep the software updated, focus on security etc.
Then you have the group that just doesn't know any better, this group is split 50/50, the only time they will upgrade is when a new feature requires it, and a message is displayed to them saying XYZ won't work unless you do "this".
The third group is the "If It ain't broke don't fix it" group. These just don't change a thing, don't wanna fool with it and are abhorrently against any change at all.
Sadly we still have a few legacy customers running CentOS 4x and PHP 4.. because they have invested too much money into software product XYZ and never thought about the future or upgrading it. Thankfully CloudLinux has helped this a lot with back porting security patches for PHP but some folks just don't wanna change.
To report in here, we are running our own dedicated server, where we are using LXD (https://linuxcontainers.org/) to set up containers.
The server itself just manages firewall rules, like forwarding.
We have created a own container, which is reachable via Port 80 and 443 (redirecting 80 to 443 and enforcing HTTPS though) which acts as "master".
It serves as reverse proxy (using nginx) to expose all the different containers.
Each container is made especially for a specific application, so if a weird outdated one only works on PHP 5.x or let's say a really outdated version of ubuntu, it gets it without affecting other applications / containers.
Our XenForo container is running on Ubuntu 18.04 with PHP7.2 and MariaDB and it works flawlessy and the performance is really great
The server itself just manages firewall rules, like forwarding.
We have created a own container, which is reachable via Port 80 and 443 (redirecting 80 to 443 and enforcing HTTPS though) which acts as "master".
It serves as reverse proxy (using nginx) to expose all the different containers.
Each container is made especially for a specific application, so if a weird outdated one only works on PHP 5.x or let's say a really outdated version of ubuntu, it gets it without affecting other applications / containers.
Our XenForo container is running on Ubuntu 18.04 with PHP7.2 and MariaDB and it works flawlessy and the performance is really great
If you can't use the stick, use carrot. I like how you add exciting new features to entice people to upgrade to PHP 7.2
I personally use centminmod on all my servers many years ago and this is a game changing experience for admin who manages servers.
Performance aside, its top notch support by @eva2000 makes it a no brainer.
I personally use centminmod on all my servers many years ago and this is a game changing experience for admin who manages servers.
Performance aside, its top notch support by @eva2000 makes it a no brainer.
And on the subject of that, if people don't want to use something like centminmod (why wouldn't you) or people are concerned about which repo to use, then the Remi repos are pretty much the default that most people go to.
rainmotorsports
Well-known member
I still consider 5.6 for gaming communities that are running early 5.x scripts for managing game servers, tracking stats etc. It's pretty messy as it is getting those to work on 5.4+. Personally I run 7.x
Max
Well-known member
They need a reason to upgrade, If xF works in their 5.6 then they don't care.
If xF 2.2 need 7 then they have a reason to upgrade and then they put time and do it. Or ask their shared hosting company to do it etc...
As i know all major shared hosts support php 7 in their shared hosting. Hostgator, Bluehost etc..
So make 2.2 a reason to upgrade for them
If xF 2.2 need 7 then they have a reason to upgrade and then they put time and do it. Or ask their shared hosting company to do it etc...
As i know all major shared hosts support php 7 in their shared hosting. Hostgator, Bluehost etc..
So make 2.2 a reason to upgrade for them
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rainmotorsports
Well-known member
#WindowsFilePermissionsAreTheDevil
click here
Active member
XF1.5 with PHP 7.2 on dedicated box here.
DragonByte Tech
Well-known member
Preach.
One time I helped run a private community for a game server, and this server ran on MS-SQL. This was back before PDO was popular and way before you could natively compile mssql for *nix. Therefore, that meant a Windows server.
Good lord was that an exercise in frustration. FTP transfers randomly died, and when they did, the file was locked for 30 minutes.
Fillip
We do not use Centminmod because we do not use CentOS
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ibnesayeed
Well-known member
[Just thinking out loud!] To promote the use of newer version of dependencies, be it PHP, MySQL, or something else, next minor release of both XF1 or XF2 may add a dismissible notice in the ACP home page if the versions are not up to the recommended mark that says something like this:
"You are running PHP 5.6 which is still supported by XenForo, but for improved security and performance we encourage you to upgrade to a newer version such as PHP 7.2 if possible. We also anticipate that a few upcoming XenForo features might only be available in newer versions. Learn more..."
That "Learn more..." text can then link to an instruction/feedback page within ACP, documentation, or a forum thread that helps them provide the kind of feedback consolidated here in this thread and guide them to the steps they can take to make it happen.
"You are running PHP 5.6 which is still supported by XenForo, but for improved security and performance we encourage you to upgrade to a newer version such as PHP 7.2 if possible. We also anticipate that a few upcoming XenForo features might only be available in newer versions. Learn more..."
That "Learn more..." text can then link to an instruction/feedback page within ACP, documentation, or a forum thread that helps them provide the kind of feedback consolidated here in this thread and guide them to the steps they can take to make it happen.
rainmotorsports
Well-known member
Looks like 5.6 is end of security updates at the end of this year same as 7.0. It's kind of hard to say there is an excuse to not demand 7.1+ by the time 7.2 rolls out.
Kevin
Well-known member
... and now I'm on 7.2 for the main site..... and there's my motivation to figure out what the problem is.
Was missing some 7.2 extensions, just had to get it sorted out using EA4. Turns out I wasn't as behind on my "To Do" list as I thought as the main XF site was already using PHP 7.0 while the rest of the misc. sites are still on 5.6 as the default. The XF requirements script is giving the warning about 'exec' being disabled but it looks like it's not a concern unless I was using ffmpeg in the gallery.Now comes the hard part... waiting a few months to see what shiny new toy is in XF 2.1 that prompted this conversation.
WSWD
Well-known member
It's actually really simple. Most people just don't care. They set up their website (or have someone else do it), and as long as it's working, they don't bother to update or upgrade anything on the back end. Forum admins are not necessarily server enthusiasts, or even savvy in how to run a server properly. There are definitely a group of enthusiasts (the people in this forum, for example), but I doubt that most are. And PHP is just one piece of the puzzle. Imagine how many people are running outdated MySQL and Apache installs; likely whatever came initially with the server.
As far as shared hosting, again, same thing. We have up to 7.2 available in our PHP selector right in cPanel yet most people still don't use it, or even know it's there. Heck, we get probably 10-15 tickets per day (not an exaggeration) from shared hosting clients asking about adding email addresses or databases or such. They don't even know how to access cPanel.
Similarly, I'm sure there are tons of people running xF 1.x and they will until they are forced to upgrade. Everything works as-is, and they see no need to touch it.
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