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Where are the PHP 5 incompatible applications?

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  • Ecrit par Damien Seguy
  • vendredi 23 février 2007
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The monthly PHP stats are usually explained by the common belief that PHP applications and PHP hosters are not using it already. I took a look at the Guide PHP recentely, and I realized that applications are usually ready for PHP 5, even if the original code base is for PHP 4. I started a more detailed survey, and the result is much better than expected for PHP 5.
I gathered 86 applications,a nd sorted then in 3 types : PHP 5 only, PHP 4 only, and PHP 4 and 5. Here are the figures :
  • PHP 5 : 17
  • PHP 4 and 5 : 56
  • PHP 4 : 13
All summed up : the large majority of applications are ready for PHP 5. This is the most interesting fact from the survey, and it contradict directly the common belief that old applications are not PHP 5 compatibile.

What about the hosters then?
We have to check with the hosters, now. That could be another study to run. If we ask each of them by mail, I expect that everyone will answer : 'yes, sure, we have PHP 5!'. I'll try to see if I can get better results with the PHP version stats.

So, who is clinging to PHP 4?
The best explanation is probably basic inertia. PHP applications are PHP 5 compatible, but users must upgrade. When one realize there are still PHP 2.0 users on the net, we can only understand what is happening with PHP 4 : once the application is installed, it will be use as is until the next major change. If it works, don't fix it.

Take a look at PHP version used by PHP mirors. www.php.net show the right path by using PHP 5.2.0-dev. But here are the other versions being used :
  •  4.2  : 1
  •  5.0 :  8
  • 5.2   : 9
  • N-I : 15
  • 4.4  :  22
  • 5.1  :  26
  • 4.3 :   33
Also, while in the previous years, PHP growth was feed by new users on the Web. They chose their application, and installed it. Now that they are using it, they will keep it for a long time, until some major change.

And, since last year or so, new users on the Web do not even have to intall and host their applications. You need a blog? don't break a sweat. There are litterally dozens of sites that will happily host them for you, and take care for the plumbing. Even for free. And this is also true for pictures galeries, files, or e-commerce.

Short study of supported PHP versions
Just a final word on this study. I took the popular application I've heard of recently, and that managed to gain some fame. Yet, this is not an exhaustive study. I have no intention to scour thousands of PHP projects on sourceforge, even is some search engine will help to lookfor them. To the heck with unknown and unused applications.

I also have to point that it is not easy to know if PHP 5 is supported or not. To start with, there are too few applications that promote their PHP5 compatibility right from the front page. Obviously, this is not a selling argument. Some give it a try, but they are not too many.

Then, it is often difficult to know what are the prerequisite or recommanded functions for an application. Some indicate it from the home page, but often they just stat 'PHP' with a link to www.php.net, without no version indication. One have to look into the docs to find a 'requirements' section, and may be get some details.

But then again, the vast majority display some PHP 4 compatibility, like PHP 4.2.x and over. In fact, this won't answer to the question : is this application working on PHP 5? While one may suppose, true or false, that 4.1.x compatibility ensure some 4.4.x compatibility, the question remains for PHP 5. More than once, I had to confirm PHP 5 compatibility with the authors, or google.

For PHP 4 applications with a long history, PHP 5 code is already included. At worse, PHP 5 support require some less used configuration (I've seen some project requesting register_globals!!), but nothing impossible for a good hoster, or for it's competition.

More on this study
If you have more information, corrections or inserts to this list, I'll be glab to hear from you : mail me at , with consistent information : name of application, home page, PHP 4 and 5 compatibility, a link to proof (doc, forum, etc.).

I'll be updating this list now and then during some weeks, but if you mail during 2007 summer, chances are you'll be too late.
Note : please, do not alert me on beta version, or futuristic plans. We're talking of stable versions here...

PHP application list, by supported version

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