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PHP update needed

Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 3:23 pm
by bnoble@sonic.net
Hi,
I need to update my php to 5.6 since 7.3 isn't available yet on Http://bobseyes.net .
I was going to try to do it but there's a note from Drew.Philips at the top of .htaccess that I don't understand so could someone at Sonic.net have a look and take care of it.
Thanks,
Bob

Re: PHP update needed

Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 4:44 pm
by drew.phillips
Hi Bob!

I made the changes so your site is now using PHP 5.6. The "cgi wrap" configuration that dictates the PHP version in your case is not accessible from FTP or shell.

Let me know if you spot anything strange as a result of the change.

Re: PHP update needed

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 10:04 am
by soldata
Hi Drew:

I have a somewhat similar problem.

I updated the php version on my client's website soldata.com to 5.6.34, screenshot attached of phpinfo.php.

I also used a debug plugin, screenshot also attached. It shows php version 5.3.29

Trying to update to WordPress 5.2, but it says that my php version of 5.3 is insufficient.

Thoughts? Thanks for your help!

Regards, Ned

Re: PHP update needed

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 11:07 am
by drew.phillips
soldata wrote:Hi Drew:

I have a somewhat similar problem.

I updated the php version on my client's website soldata.com to 5.6.34, screenshot attached of phpinfo.php.

I also used a debug plugin, screenshot also attached. It shows php version 5.3.29

Trying to update to WordPress 5.2, but it says that my php version of 5.3 is insufficient.

Thoughts? Thanks for your help!

Regards, Ned
Hi Ned,

Thanks for the details and screenshots. The .htaccess file in your site's root directory has the correct "Action" directive to switch to PHP 5.6, but there is also a .htaccess file in the /wordpress/ directory which is still using 5.3 and is taking precedence over the one in the root.

I would suggest leaving the .htaccess in the root as-is, so PHP files there or in other subdirectories without .htaccess files use 5.6. Once /wordpress/.htaccess is updated to use 5.6 as well, Wordpress itself will see the updated version and you should be able to upgrade WordPress to 5.2.

Re: PHP update needed

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 12:11 pm
by soldata
Thanks Drew -- that did the trick!

Regards, Ned

Re: PHP update needed

Posted: Tue May 28, 2019 2:12 pm
by zoka
I also need a PHP upgrade so that I can update my WordPress installation:

"You cannot update because WordPress 5.2.1 requires PHP version 5.6.20 or higher. You are running version 5.3.29."

Please advise.

Thanks.
MZ

Re: PHP update needed

Posted: Tue May 28, 2019 3:11 pm
by zoka
zoka wrote:I also need a PHP upgrade so that I can update my WordPress installation:

"You cannot update because WordPress 5.2.1 requires PHP version 5.6.20 or higher. You are running version 5.3.29."

Please advise.

Thanks.
MZ
Okay, I added the .htaccess file for PHP 5.6 to the top level of my WordPress directory ("/home/WWW_pages/username/example.com") per this article:

https://help.sonic.com/hc/en-us/article ... 69193-PHP5

But now when I go to my site I get a database error:

"Error establishing a database connection"

i don't have access to any other directories on the server, so I think this is all I can do on my own for now.

Re: PHP update needed

Posted: Tue May 28, 2019 4:08 pm
by drew.phillips
zoka wrote:
zoka wrote:I also need a PHP upgrade so that I can update my WordPress installation:

"You cannot update because WordPress 5.2.1 requires PHP version 5.6.20 or higher. You are running version 5.3.29."

Please advise.

Thanks.
MZ
Okay, I added the .htaccess file for PHP 5.6 to the top level of my WordPress directory ("/home/WWW_pages/username/example.com") per this article:

https://help.sonic.com/hc/en-us/article ... 69193-PHP5

But now when I go to my site I get a database error:

"Error establishing a database connection"

i don't have access to any other directories on the server, so I think this is all I can do on my own for now.
Hi MZ,

In this case, the MySQL password hash for your account needed to be updated to work with the newer PHP version. This Wordpress install must have been created quite a while ago since it was using MySQL's "old_password" format.

I've gone ahead and fixed the hash so your site should now be working properly. Let me know if it's still having trouble connecting.

Other than that, the article you found referenced the right information and the steps were followed perfectly.

Drew

Re: PHP update needed

Posted: Tue May 28, 2019 5:04 pm
by zoka
Thanks, Drew! This did take care of the PHP upgrade issue. The new version of PHP also took care of the problem I was having activating the Wordfence plugin.

MZ

Re: PHP update needed

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2019 10:11 am
by maureenj
I need to upgrade my PHP to PHP 7.2 or newer, but at the minimum I need to update to PHP 5.6.
I can't update my Wordpress site, which I have hosted with Sonic for years, until PHP is updated.
I just called customer support, and the guy I spoke to there refused to help me and sent me to forums. I see on the forums that Drew has helped several other people with this, and I hope he will please help me too. I freelance, and not updating my website now is becoming expensive.
I do not see a way to do it myself.
toughprose.com, and a redirect from prosehaven.com
Thanks very very much.
Maureen