Php version (need advice please)

[poppy4]

My Board is on phpbb version 3.3.10. The host company has just emailed to say that ‘PHP 5.4 and 5.5 won't be supported from Monday 1st April 2024 - please upgrade’. In the ACP of the forum it is showing the php version as 8.0.30. I don’t know if I need to do anything about this so please could someone advise? If changes need to be made, is it difficult? Just wondering if I could do it myself or would have to get help.

For context, the Board is disabled and the forum is no longer active but I (and others) have a lot of information and history on it that I just want to be able to access as and when. I have therefore kept it online. I previously looked at the server instructions but am not equal to coping with it so thought it would be better to continue paying the host company.

[Brf]

You are not using those older PHP versions.

[warmweer]

PHP 8.0 is OK for phpBB 3.3.10 and up (even though it's way past EOL already). You can use PHP 8.1 and 8.2 without problems (well, I haven't had any).

Personally I'ld go for PHP 8.2 but not yet PHP 8.3.

[P_I]

The host company has just emailed to say that ‘PHP 5.4 and 5.5 won't be supported from Monday 1st April 2024 - please upgrade’

Wow! According to PHP: Unsupported Branches those branches have been end-of-life (EOL) for many years and should have long ago been removed from hosting sites.

In the ACP of the forum it is showing the php version as 8.0.30.

Even that version of PHP Is EOL, as of 26 Nov 2023 (3 months ago).

I don’t know if I need to do anything about this so please could someone advise? If changes need to be made, is it difficult? Just wondering if I could do it myself or would have to get help.

It depends on your hosting company. Check their FAQ to see if they have information on how to change PHP versions. Here is an example PHP Version Selection | Bluehost. I've got sites there and it is very simple to follow their instructions to change PHP versions.

FWIW, see PHP: Supported Versions to see which versions are supported and for how long.

From the phpBB 3.3.10 Release Announcement

We are pleased to announce the release of phpBB 3.3.10 “The Way of Bertie”. This version is a maintenance release of the 3.3.x branch which improves support for PHP 8.2, and resolves various issues reported in previous versions.

You will also need to check if you are using any extensions as not all extensions have been confirmed compatible with PHP 8.x versions.

My boards are running phpBB 3.3.11 on PHP 8.2 without issue. IIRC when running phpBB 3.3.10 I was using PHP 8.1.

[poppy4]

Thank you for your replies. Much appreciated. I have extensions but as the board is disabled I’m not using them. I will leave the current php version as it is for now.

I discussed this with my friend/moderator today and she wondered if I could open the forum to previous members just as read only but no posting. It’s something to think about but I don’t know if this can be done. Is it possible? I am thinking that maybe I would need to go into permissions but dread the thought of going down each section of the forum to change them. Is there a quicker way? If not, I will just have to get my aged brain in gear and get on with it.

[Mick]

If you disable registration and make all forums read only for the groups you wish that should do what you want.

(from one aged brain to another)

[poppy4]

Thank you Mick. That’s what I thought. I will have to go through the permissions for each forum and user group to change them. Registration is already disabled (admin).

[thecoalman]

If you have been using roles and the registered users group has the same role assigned for each forum you can just edit that single role and assign "never" permissions. This would apply to everyone since everyone belongs to registered user group.