PHP 5.3 rebuilt (but please don’t use it any more)

Some of our customers are still using the PHP 5.3 series, even though it’s obsolete and not recommended.

We’ve “rebuilt” the old PHP 5.3.29 software to patch a serious security bug it contains. This bug is the partial cause of a recent Joomla security problem.

The rebuilt version will be deployed on all our servers within the next few hours. No changes should be noticeable, but in the unlikely event you experience any trouble, don’t hesitate to contact us.

That said, nobody should be using PHP 5.3 any more. It has many other bugs that will never be fixed, and it’s much slower than newer versions. If you’re using 5.3, please upgrade to at least 5.5, and preferably 5.6 or 7.0. (These newer versions already contain the security bug fix.)

First, make sure you’re using the latest available versions of any PHP scripts you’ve installed, then:

  1. Login to our “My Account” control panel.
  2. Click PHP Settings.
  3. Choose a newer version of PHP, then Save Settings.

Then test your site. It will probably work fine, and you’ll be all set for years.

By the way, if you try the fast 7.0 series and it doesn’t work, it means the PHP code in a script you’ve installed is incompatible with that new version of PHP (it’s pretty recent). Try the 5.6 or 5.5 series for now.

If the 5.5 series doesn’t work, either, your scripts are outdated and should be fixed ASAP. You can choose the PHP 5.3 series again to get things working immediately, but you should contact the person who wrote or provided your PHP scripts so they can fix this for you.