Mr.Host currently supports three versions of PHP – 5.3, 5.6, and 7.2. While Mr.Host always recommends using the most recent version of PHP, customers can select the version they prefer to use for their websites.
While Mr.Host does maintain security patches for older versions of PHP, the time has come that we can must remove support for PHP 5.3. Customers must upgrade any websites they have using PHP 5.3 by May 1st, 2019 at the latest. Any sites still using PHP 5.3 after this date, will automatically be upgraded.
Does this Change Affect Me?
Any website hosted on the Mr.Host platform that use PHP, could be affected. This includes common content management systems (CMS) like WordPress or Joomla.
The version of WordPress your website is currently configured to use, is available from the Websites section of the Mr.Host Customer Control Panel.
How Does This Change Affect Me?
Each new version of PHP released, includes changes that are considered backwards incompatible- features of functionality that have been removed or changed in the newer version, which could negatively affect how the PHP code runs.
If you’re using a content management system (CMS), like WordPress or Joomla, it’s recommended that you always keep your site up-to-date. Not only the CMS software itself, but also any plugins or themes that you might be using. The most recent versions of WordPress and Joomla are both fully compatible with PHP 7.2.
How Do I Know If My Site is Compatible?
Any backwards incompatible changes are fully documented with each PHP release, and are available from the PHP websites.
There are several versions released between PHP 5.3 and 7.2, each of which includes backwards incompatible changes. It’s important to consider all of these changes when determining if your application is backwards compatible:
From PHP 5.3 to 5.4
http://php.net/manual/en/migration54.incompatible.php
From PHP 5.4 to 5.5
http://php.net/manual/en/migration55.incompatible.php
From PHP 5.5 to 5.6
http://php.net/manual/en/migration56.incompatible.php
From PHP 5.6 to 7.0
http://php.net/manual/en/migration70.incompatible.php
From PHP 7.0 to 7.1
http://php.net/manual/en/migration71.incompatible.php
From PHP 7.1 to 7.2
http://php.net/manual/en/migration72.incompatible.php
For customers using WordPress, there is a good PHP compatibility checker plugin that can provide details about if your site is compatible with PHP 7.2, and if not, where the issues might be:
Keep in mind, this compatibility checker plugin can take a little some time to run- longer if you have several themes and plugins installed. Mr.Host Support can also validate if your WordPress installation is compatible with PHP 7.2 for you.
Customers will be able to see any errors or warnings about their websites, by looking into the tmp/php.log file located under their account when they FTP in to the web hosting environment. This file is also available from the FTP -> File Manager section of the Mr.Host Customer Control Panel.
How Do I Upgrade
Upgrading your websites, is as easy as selecting the PHP version number, from the Websites section of the Mr.Host Customer Control Panel, selecting the checkbox next to the site, and clicking “Update”.
If you have any questions about the upgrade, or need help upgrading your websites, please let us know!