How do I update my PHP version?

[Hezeel]

I know very little about php or how it works, but after hunting around for ages, I found a post about making a little file to run either phpinfo() or phpversion() commands to find what version I'm running.
Apparently my account is still running PHP version 4.4.7

I'm trying to install some new components on my Joomla site, but I keep getting 500 errors & other various ones as the files attempt to copy across into Joomla, which (from what I've read) could have to do with trying to use php5 components on a php4 server.


Is there a way for me update it, or is that something I need to request support to do for me?

Next question - is there anything special I need to do with my site before/during upgrading?

Thanks for any help,
Hez.

[Niko]

Hello Hez,

All our shared hosting servers have multiple PHP versions support. You can easily change the version which your website uses, by following the simple instructions in this article of ours:

http://kb.siteground.com/article/How..._versions.html

[SaurabhJ]

It would not be possible to do this as you have a server that has PHP4. You need to consider an option of upgrading it. You should get in touch with your hosting provider for better assistance.

[Collin1000]

It would not be possible to do this as you have a server that has PHP4. You need to consider an option of upgrading it. You should get in touch with your hosting provider for better assistance.

First of all, that user is banned, so ignore his advise.
2nd of all, I am on a legacy PHP4 server, all you have to do if you want PHP5 in a directory is to create a .htaccess file and in it put:

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php5 .php .php4 .php5 .php3 .phtml

[Hristo.P]

Hello,

Collin1000 is right here. Bear in mind, however, that .htaccess files work recursively. This means that this change will affect the current directory and all the folders under it. Therefore, if you want to change the PHP version for your entire site, just place the .htaccess file in your public_html folder.

You can check all the available PHP versions that we provide our customers with in this article:

http://kb.siteground.com/article/How..._versions.html

Personally, I would recommend you to use the PHP 5.2 version.

[hwj]

...You can check all the available PHP versions that we provide our customers with in this article:

http://kb.siteground.com/article/How..._versions.html

Personally, I would recommend you to use the PHP 5.2 version.

PHP 5.3 has been out for quite a while now. The above recommendation is over a year old. When can we use PHP 5.3?

Thanks