Member Avatar for OsaMasw

hello guys, good morning
one of our servers recently upgraded to Ubuntu 14.04 so for this PHP upgraded to 5.5.9
all scripts on this server stopped working because they use a functions not supported by newer version of PHP,
I need to downgrade PHP to 5.3 so I can make all scripts work again.
I dont care for security resons for updating PHP, so its ok to back to older version of PHP.
I used this tutorial but still my php 5.5

sudo apt-get purge php5
wget -O php5_3.tar.gz http://us1.php.net/get/php-5.3.28.tar.gz/from/this/mirror
tar -xzcf php5_3.tar.gz
cd php5_3
./configure
sudo make
sudo make install

php.jpg

But in ssh when using php -v
its shows like this

php2.jpg

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Member #120589

Dani AI

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Quick diagnosis and practical next steps (short version)

The most likely reason you still see PHP 5.5 after compiling 5.3 is that a source build usually installs under /usr/local by default while the distribution package lives in /usr/bin; the system (and Apache) keeps using the packaged PHP unless you explicitly replace or reconfigure the webserver to use your build. Check what the webserver is actually running with a phpinfo() page and inspect which CLI binary the shell is using. (gnu.org)

Quick checks to run (safe, non-destructive)
(put these in a terminal and/or create a small test page for phpinfo())

which php
ls -l /usr/bin/php /usr/local/bin/php
php -m | grep -i mysql

Create a small file containing:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

and view it in a browser to see the Server API / Loaded Configuration File (that tells you whether Apache/Nginx is using the packaged module, FPM, or your compiled binary). (php.net)

Options and recommendations

  • Long‑term: update the code to use mysqli or PDO (this is the correct fix; the mysql extension was deprecated and will be removed in future PHP versions). As said, migrating is the sustainable path. (wiki.php.net)
  • Short term: if logs are full of deprecation notices you can temporarily reduce reporting of E_DEPRECATED in the appropriate php.ini or per‑site config (not a security fix; it only hides the warnings while you migrate). (php.net)
  • If you must run PHP 5.3 for legacy apps, do NOT overwrite the system PHP without care — instead run the old runtime isolated (php-fpm instance bound to a socket or use a container/VM). That lets you host multiple PHP versions side‑by‑side safely. (php.net)

Minimal decision checklist

  1. Run the commands above to confirm which binary and SAPI are active.
  2. If Apache/Nginx still uses the distro package, either install a matching module for your build (advanced) or run your compiled PHP as php‑fpm and point the webserver to it.
  3. Plan code migration to mysqli/PDO; treat suppressing E_DEPRECATED as a temporary stopgap only. (gnu.org)

If you post the outputs of the checks above (which php, ls -l, php -m and a snippet of phpinfo()), there’s a clear, low‑risk path to either make the compiled PHP active for the webserver or to run an isolated PHP 5.3 environment.

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for Member #120589

How about updating the few scripts that don't work? There can't be that many surely? Which functions are affected?

Member Avatar for OsaMasw

as for error.log its show me a whole file with all functions like mysql_connect , mysqli_connect
I really dont know which function is not working.

Member Avatar for Member #120589

Neither of those should cause a problem - even mysql_connect, but the migration (5.4->5.5) file states:

The original MySQL extension is now deprecated, and will generate E_DEPRECATED errors when connecting to a database. Instead, use the MySQLi or PDO_MySQL extensions.

Is your error log collecting ALL errors or just fatal ones? If all, then I imagine that the vast majority of them you can ignore (NOTICES and WARNINGS).

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