Discontinuing Support for PHP 4
LeslieStarting August 1, 2012 we are removing older versions of PHP from our Linux and Windows servers and replacing them with the newer version of PHP 5.3. These older versions of PHP are no longer supported, and have become outdated. PHP 5.3 is more stable, and most important, more secure.
Most websites using older versions of PHP will still function properly under PHP 5.3. We want to give you an opportunity to update your version of PHP and check your site for any issues before we make the change to our servers.
Don’t worry. Updating PHP versions is easy. You can find all of the details here.
Although most existing PHP code should work without changes, there are some backward incompatible changes that might impact your site when you update PHP versions. If you see any issues during this upgrade process, you should reach out to your site developer, or contact our support team.
If you have questions or need assistance, you can contact our Support Team 24/7 at (480) 505-8877, or support@godaddy.com.
5 min expected wait time
15 Comments on "Discontinuing Support for PHP 4"
My hosting account was updated to PHP 5.2, and MYSQL_CONNECT is no longer supported. Unfortunately, MYSQLI classes are not supported by my hosting account either, so I have no way of connecting to my databases to run my data-driven website. Any help would be appreciated.
Just of interest, why not provide the php4 as a fallback for people with old applications that still demand the old versions? is it really impossible?
Hi ToxicPineapple, have you had a chance to contact support? I don’t want to dig into your account specifics on a public forum.
Give our team a call and we’ll see what we can do to get your site back online.
Hey Splash_Tech,
We wish it were that simple.
Unfortunately older versions of PHP are no longer supported by the community as a whole. This means updated security patches are no longer released. Without updated security patches, we open our servers and customers up to potential malicious attacks and security threats.
The PHP developers try to preserve backwards compatibility, so a script written for an older version should run without changes in a newer version of PHP.
I don’t see a “Programming Languages” option on the Settings menu. Am I looking in the wrong place?
Hello, my site is using Joomla 2.5.6 and PHP Version 5.2.17, will my site be affected by this update?
I have a deluxe hosting PHP5.2.17. I have to switch to PHP5.3?
I teniend operational problems with the forms of the site and the
relay-server hosting.secureserver.net. This may be the cause?
@gjwbiker – that’s odd. Feel free to give our 24/7 customer support team a call so we can see what’s going on with your Hosting Control Center.
@Nacho – it would be a good idea to look at updating to 5.3 since 5.2.17 will eventually be turned off. Here are additional resources that might help you out:
Viewing or Changing Your PHP Language Version
Using HTaccess Files to Manage PHP File Extensions
you have to be kidding this go daddy is the most frustrating experience i,ve ever had it has taken me 2 months to upload 1 video to that joke of a website you have the cheek to charge money, the only thing that works is the payment process.
disgraceful. never.
ps there must be other unhappy bunnies out thers.
@never,
Have you contacted our support team? It shouldn’t take two months to upload a video. Sounds like it might be something we can help out with.
GoDaddy should’ve announced the plans for the change much earlier, and sent out alerts by email (I might’ve missed that, though).
By the way, it would be very helpful if server migrations didn’t alter the dates on files or directories. I’ve seen dates change multiple times in the past on configuration/server changes. It makes it difficult to do local/remote synchronization, among other things.
I also got zero notification, and now my vbulletin forum with a pretty decent userbase is completely dead in the water. Thanks guys.
Hello Leslie… What you stated: “The PHP developers try to preserve backwards compatibility, so a script written for an older version should run without changes in a newer version of PHP.” is not necessarily true. There is an API check now in PHP5 that is causing issues with using the dl() function on custom modules. I have had GoDaddy hosting for roughly 6+ years and have ran this site without issue on PHP4. I’ve had a custom module that I used for years. 2 years ago, I lost my external hard drive and lost all source to this module. Now with this update, I lost ALL my business in 1 swoop (online business using mysql database and this module was loaded dynamically for calcuations). I’m forced to have to look outside for a way of hosting PHP4 and running this custom module. I doubt you will provide information on being able to get this working by somehow helping me with this API check problem… so not everything is supported with this update. I feel this was a horrible move, because I got NO notifications in regards to this. Had I known, I would have started my search much earlier… instead of basically biting my nails now at every hosting site I can find that mentions PHP 4. Is this just for shared hosting, or for dedicated as well? What do you say in regards to this?
Hi odthetruth. Situations like this can get sticky, especially when you no longer have access to the original source code. You do however have options in regards to moving to a Virtual Dedicated, or Dedicated hosting environment.
With our VPS and Dedicated servers you can install whichever version of PHP you need from archives available online. Just keep in mind, security risks remain the same and our support would be limited.