Updating PHP

[Shawn Gossman]

How often do you update PHP on your hosting service?

Is this something you have to do manually or will the hosting service automatically update it when needed?

Do you like to wait for a bit or update it as soon as a new update is available?

 

[Cpvr]

I generally wait until a php version is stable enough to upgrade. I don’t like rushing to upgrade to a newer version right away as it can effect some of your scripts if they’re not compatible.

 

[frm]

Only when absolutely required, and everything I run is supported by the newer version.

For instance, XF 2.2 requires PHP 7.0 with a minimum of 8.2, but does not behave well on 8.2 or 7.0 with the add ons I have, and I have a couple of licenses for 2.2 that I might pop up before upgrading to 2.3. That is, unless XF 2.4 drops and I renew all ($1000+) to get them all on the same page with updates.

I'll have to run PHP-FPM 7.3 for XF 2.2 forums, but for XF 2.3.6~, I run PHP-FPM 8.3 because some add ons aren't caught up to 8.4.

 

[JWeb]

When I need to. Unfortunately I had an incident where I upgraded PHP and everything stopped working.

 

[Tracy]

When I need to. Unfortunately I had an incident where I upgraded PHP and everything stopped working.

I recently was involved in a convo with a person who runs a site. Their hosting provider "upgraded" them to PHP 8.4. And since they are running an older version of PHP 2.2 it took a massive crap on itself.
The biggest issue... the hosting provider should not have taken it upon themselves to upgrade sites to PHP 8.4. Hell, even the current version of XenForo has some issues with PHP 8.4.
A hosting provider should never be upgrading your site on their own without prior consultation. But also, if you are running a site that is dependent upon older versions of PHP, you really should not be running on a shared hosting environment.