[wp-hackers] WordPress 3.1 Requirements

[Eric Mann]

Thanks for clarifying, Otto.  I didn't intend to imply that WordPress'
updates are PHP 5 dependent.  They're not.  But on some hosts, I've had
better success using PHP 5 than using PHP 4.

Automatic updates on 1and1 just won't work with PHP 4.

On MediaTemple, just about everything works ... but if you try to do things
too fast they have some weird timeout issue with PHP 4 ... this affects
automatic updates (i.e. attempting to update several - more than 3 or 4 -
plug-ins at once) and some XML RPC functions.  But the issue is intermittent
and I haven't been able to diagnose the actual cause.  Updating to PHP 5
fixed it, so I haven't bothered to go back and investigate further.

On GoDaddy I have strange, intermittent issues of all varieties running PHP
4 ... not just with WordPress, but with any system running under PHP 4 ...
so I avoid it like the plague.

*In general, though, WordPress is compatible with PHP 4 ... though not every
host (professional or otherwise) is running a clean, bug-free PHP 4 system.
 Additional Apache modules introduce other levels of complexity and failure.
 Shared hosting (which several of us use due to the low cost) introduces
others.*

On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 9:28 AM, Otto <otto at ottodestruct.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 9:44 AM, Eric Mann <eric at eam.me> wrote:
> > PHP 4.3+ is a requirement for WordPress to operate, but some features
> will
> > still be incompatible with those versions of PHP.  I can confirm that
> > automatic updates fail for PHP < 5 on at least GoDaddy, 1and1 and
> > MediaTemple.  However, WordPress still works just fine and you can still
> > perform a manual (FTP) update.
>
> Automatic upgrades are definitely not PHP 5 dependent, however they
> are dependent upon the specific setup and configuration of the host in
> question. In the case of many hosts, the PHP 5 setup is better or more
> robust and thus automatic upgrades may work better on that.
>
> This is definitely the case for GoDaddy hosting. I've confirmed this
> multiple times.
>
> -Otto
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