Support

Your server must meet the minimum PHP version noted in the setting's name.

The minimum PHP version is the highest of a. PHP version 7.2 (the minimum requirement to run the restoration script) and b. the minimum supported PHP version of the Joomla version you are restoring. The Joomla –PHP compatibility information comes from the official Joomla documentation. BRS only knows about Joomla versions released from 2010 (Joomla 1.6.0) to when your current BRS version was released. If you try to restore a newer version of Joomla than the one BRS knows about you will see a lower minimum PHP version than what is actually required.

Please note that it is possible that your server has more than one PHP versions installed at the same time. The PHP version your site is being run under may not be the latest PHP version available, and it may also not be the PHP version in your hosting control panel. Especially regarding the latter, please keep in mind that what is reported is the PHP version the hosting control panel runs under, NOT the PHP version your site runs under – in fact, the latter is not something that can be reported as it is technically possible to have a different PHP version handling different PHP scripts or directories on your site.

If you receive an error here it can never be a bug. It is PHP checking its own version, hardcoded into the PHP executable itself when it was compiled and installed on your server, against the version number printed in the message. You need to contact your host and ask them how you can select the PHP version for your site.

Important

In many cases your host will tell you to modify your site's .htaccess file, or use a tool in the hosting control panel which does the same. Since the .htaccess file may be overwritten later during the restoration process you may have to apply the PHP version again after the Site Setup step of the restoration. You can avoid this rigmarole by choosing the PHP version before extracting the backup archive. BRS will see the relevant lines in the .htaccess and propose to transcribe them for you.

The PHP version currently used to run your site must have the mysqli extension installed and enabled. Moreover, the various mysqli_* functions must NOT be disabled in PHP's configuration. Alternatively, it must have the pdo_mysql extension installed. These are the two methods supported by Joomla! to connect to a MySQL-compatible database server.

Kindly note that an error here can never be a bug. BRS simply asks PHP to tell it if the functions or classes provided by each necessary MySQL connection extension are available. An error means that PHP itself reports it will not be able to connect to the database.

If you get an error here, please ask your host how to enable the mysqli or pdo_mysql extension. If you are unsure which PHP version is being used, scroll down to the Site Information section of the page and look at the PHP version line. The version currently used on your server is shown under the Current column.

Joomla uses INI-formatted files for its language files. Your PHP version must have the ini extension installed and enabled, and the parse_ini_string function must NOT be disabled in PHP's configuration.

Just like with database support, an error here can never be a bug for similar reasons. If you get an error here, contact your host.

Joomla uses JSON extensively to store core and third party extension configuration (Joomla 1.6 and later), and to power its JSON API application (Joomla 4 and later).

The PHP version currently used to run your site must have the json extension installed and enabled. Moreover, the various json_* functions must NOT be disabled in PHP's configuration.

Just like with database support, an error here can never be a bug for similar reasons. If you get an error here, contact your host.

Joomla uses XML extensively to store information about its core and third party extension, administration and front-end forms, etc.

The PHP version currently used to run your site must have the xml and simplexml extensions installed and enabled. Moreover, the xml_parse and simplexml_load_string functions must NOT be disabled in PHP's configuration.

Just like with database support, an error here can never be a bug for similar reasons. If you get an error here, contact your host.

The PHP version currently used to run your site must have the zlib extension installed and enabled. Moreover, the gzcompress function and the other related Zlib functions must NOT be disabled in PHP's configuration.

Just like with database support, an error here can never be a bug for similar reasons. If you get an error here, contact your host.

Joomla recommends that the PHP mbstring extension is installed and enabled. If it is, it further requires that the default language for this extension is set to neutral in the PHP configuration file, e.g. with the mbstring.language = neutral line.

If the mbstring extension is installed and enabled, but its default language is not set to neutral this check will fail, as it would cause your site to be broken. If the mbstring extension is not enabled this check will not appear at all.

Joomla recommends that the PHP mbstring extension is installed and enabled. If it is, it further requires that PHP string functions are not overloaded by the mbstring extension, e.g. with the mbstring.func_overload = false line in the PHP configuration.

If the mbstring extension is installed and enabled, and it also overrides the PHP string functions this check will fail, as it would cause your site to be broken. If the mbstring extension is not enabled this check will not appear at all.

The display_errors setting in PHP's configuration must be set to 0, preventing the output of PHP notices, warnings, and errors to the browser. The presence of these messages might leak security-sensitive information, or may break your site e.g. make it impossible to log in, or use some core Joomla and/or third party extension features. In most cases, however, this won't be an issue; just remember to set Error Reporting to None in your Global Configuration.

Your PHP version must be configured to support file uploads for some features to work such as managing media files, or installing extensions. If you see an error here it's best to contact your host.

Joomla recommends that PHP's output buffering is disabled by default, e.g. with the output_buffering = 0 line in your PHP configuration file.

In most cases, a failure here will not cause any problems. Joomla resets output buffering very early in its initialisation process.

Joomla recommends that PHP does not start a user session automatically, e.g. with the session.auto_start = false line in your PHP configuration file.

In most cases, a failure here is not the end of the world. If, however, you expect several thousands of daily guest visitors on your site it may cause issues with your server such as excessive I/O and disk space usage. It is strongly recommended to configure Joomla to use a session provide other than PHP, and disable starting a session for guest users to mitigate these issues on this kind of site.

Joomla recommends that the PHP zip extension is installed and enabled. This is used when installing or updating third party extensions.

A failure here will prevent you from installing or updating extensions, but otherwise does not affect the operation of your site.

The version of Joomla, as detected by BRS.

The domain name of the backed up site, and the one you are restoring to.

Then the backup was taken on, and when it's being restored. It is a good idea to always check the date of the backup you are restoring, and make sure it is indeed the backup you meant to restore.

The value shown "At Backup Time" is the version of Akeeba Backup for Joomla or Akeeba Solo you used to take the backup. The "Current" version is the version of BRS which is different than the version number of the backup software.

The PHP version used when backing up the site, and the PHP version being used during the restoration.

The absolute filesystem path of the site's root folder.