Support

 I'd like to find a clear procedure to upgrade the version of PHP I'm using on my website. I haven't found one yet, but I continue to get warnings when I upgrade to the latest version of Joomla.

I'm using Joomla! 3.6.2, PHP version 5.4.43, Admin Tools 4.0.1

Bluehost has me on PHP 5.4 with their global php.ini.

I currently have this statement in Admin Tools custom .htaccess rules at the top of the file.

# Required by BlueHost
# Use PHP5.4 as default
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php54 .php

I can switch to 5.6 on their PHP configuration screen.

Three questions:
1. Do I only need to switch the version to 5.6, and edit the above .htaccess rule?
2. What is the correct order to do this?
3. Is there anything else I should do to accomplish this switch?

I only ask this because often enough I've done something that seems simple on the surface, only to find out there was an absolutely CRITICAL procedure or document that I didn't know about. What really bothers me about doing this is that, after over an hour of Googling, there doesn't seem to be any mention of changing versions, which means there almost certainly is something I've missed.

Thanks

The exact ADDHANDLER command to change your PHP version is a question for your host. That command changes from one host to another, it isn't standard. I think it really is as simple as changing 5.4 to 5.6.

There shouldn't be any surprises or order sensitive items for this process. If something goes wrong, you can roll it back by editing your .htaccess file via FTP and comment our the ADDHANDLER line. That would drop the PHP version back to the 5.4 version defined in the global php.ini file. You would still have the line in .htaccess Maker, but it is easy enough to adjust it once you get back in.

I really don't expect you to have any problems.

I did change it tonight, very carefully, and it seems to have worked. Their implementation of PHP 5.6 is described as beta, and when I changed and applied the version in their CPanel utility it inserted the following lines at the top of .htaccess:

# Use PHPBETA as default
AddHandler application/x-httpd-phpbeta .php

I inserted those lines to the .htaccess custom rules in Admin Tools and used that to recreate the .htaccess file again.

Everything tests OK. Joomla is showing 5.6.x in the System Information panel.

Thanks for your help and advice. I consider this issue closed.

You're welcome!

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