Survive the PHP4 End-of-Life!

Upgrade your site to PHP5

PHP is the popular programming language behind many dynamic web sites. PHP5 is the major version of PHP that the PHP Group is actively maintaining. The previous version, PHP4, is still widely deployed, but is nearing the end of its useful life. The PHP Group has announced that active development of PHP4 will cease at the end of 2007, and even critical security updates will cease in early August 2008. Now is the time for PHP4-based web sites to migrate to PHP5. Quinn Interactive (QI) can audit your existing site and provide clear recommendations for appropriate updates, and provide professional services to implement the PHP5 upgrade.

PHP5 is largely backward-compatible with PHP4, but there are some backward-incompatible features and a new object-oriented-programming architecture. These and other technical changes may require changes to your PHP4 site. The changes might be as simple as changing a configuration option, or as complex as rewriting the dynamic code that drives part of your site. Now is the time to learn what changes your site will need to keep running in a PHP5 world. A thorough site audit will determine the extent of your PHP5 compatibility.

Key benefits of upgrading now

• Ensure that all features of your web site continue to function smoothly
• Avoid future security problems associated with running unmaintained software
• Avoid a rushed transition as your hosting provider switches to PHP5
• Avoid staying with hosting providers that fail to upgrade
• Gain access to PHP5's improved performance and robustness

Key technical issues to address now

• How will you test your site in a PHP5 environment?
• Can you learn what parts of your site are incompatible with PHP5 in time for PHP4's obsolescence?
• Do you have a technical plan for upgrading your site to PHP5?
• How should you set up your PHP5 configuration to keep your site running?
• Do you need to update any dynamic site code?

Quinn Interactive audit benefits

• PHP5 staging environment
• Automated compatibility testing
• Expert compatibility analysis
• Programming services
• System administrative services
• Hosting recommendations

QI professional services

• Code clean-up
• Database integration
• PHP5 extension applications
• QA
• System upgrade
• Project management