Hostgator upgrades PHP version, what to do?

[Scorpion Ghost]

So I wake up today and I find a small issue on one of my sites. I check a bit further and find the PHP version has been updated to PHP 7.4

I contact Hostgator, they tell me:

We are proactively upgrading customers to newer versions of PHP for security and usability; we know this may impact some older sites but we are able to manually roll back the change for you at this time. I must advise you, however, that anything older than PHP 73 will be going away in the next few months (as it will not be supported by Apache, which is the a service that is integral to your web server) and encourage you to update your site to run on PHP 73 or greater before that time. Could you please let me know the domain name you want help with?

Problem is, I have a site which requires 7.0 and two sites which require 7.1 to work. Anyway maybe they'd also work on 7.2, but that doesn't really matter as Hostgator will only be allowing PHP 7.3 and 7.4 going forward.

So do I update these sites or change my hosting?

I guess I wonder, is this going to haunt me wherever I go where hosting providers just completely do away with older version of PHP?

I also wonder, how much work is it to "update" a website in order to make it work for latest versions of PHP. Is it a small job with a few lines of code edited, or is it a huge job with the entire coding of the site needing a rewrite?

@BlogPro

 

[xReminisce]

Change your hosting
Don't let hostgator dictate how you should run your site !
i also choked on my drink reading this

 

[Scorpion Ghost]

Change your hosting
Don't let hostgator dictate how you should run your site !
i also choked on my drink reading this
View attachment 207431

Yeah but let's keeps it reals, this could be the "way of the future" and I'll just be jumping from hosting to hosting until there's no place left to go.

Also, perhaps it would be better to upgrade the sites. Like, for speed, for SEO even maybe, for browser/device-compatibility maybe, etc.

I don't know, I don't swim in these waters. PHP versions and programming and hosting providers. I need someone to clear the air. I'm sure @BlogPro will know what's best.

 

[xReminisce]

Also, perhaps it would be better to upgrade the sites. Like, for speed, for SEO even maybe, for browser/device-compatibility maybe, etc.

I was more just hating on hostgator more than anything
but realistically, if you can update your sites to the latest PHP, it is more advisable, after all, the newer PHP is better in terms of security & site speed.
take a read at https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/update-your-php-for-better-wordpress-performance.1389848/

 

[Scorpion Ghost]

I was more just hating on hostgator more than anything
but realistically, if you can update your sites to the latest PHP, it is more advisable, after all, the newer PHP is better in terms of security & site speed.
take a read at https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/update-your-php-for-better-wordpress-performance.1389848/

Ah, damn it.

Well it is what it is I guess. Good thing I have at least a few months before the HostNazis force me to use PHP 7.3 or 7.4.

HostNazis is a good name. I'll start a hosting company. HostNazis.com. Who are you hosted with? HostNazis

Yeah we'll do that for sure

 

[xReminisce]

Well it is what it is I guess. Good thing I have at least a few months before the HostNazis force me to use PHP 7.3 or 7.4.

Most "Shared hosting" places I seen have it under (Deprecated) but still let you use it.
I'm sure they will do the same instead of removing it straight out.

Heck, Rocket lets u use 5.6 lol

WPX doesn't let you use anything under 7.2 haha

aka just leave hostgator

 

[Scorpion Ghost]

Most "Shared hosting" places I seen have it under (Deprecated) but still let you use it.
I'm sure they will do the same instead of removing it straight out.

Heck, Rocket lets u use 5.6 lol
View attachment 207432

WPX doesn't let you use anything under 7.2 haha
View attachment 207433

aka just leave hostgator

I'm sure in time they'll all start removing the older PHP versions.

I don't know man. May be best to upgrade my sites. Depending on the cost of upgrading versus the time and cost of moving, may be worth it. Plus there's the whole speed thing to consider, the website being faster.

Like my main site that I mostly care about seems to work fine on PHP 7.4, but for example the search function throws an error. So if there's just a few issues that need to be fixed then those few can be upgraded and we can keep going.

Still, I have no idea what updating a site to be compatible with newer PHP versions actually means or costs. There may be 1,000 things that need to be changed, bringing the cost up to... well... 1,000 things

 

[xReminisce]

I'm sure in time they'll all start removing the older PHP versions.

I don't know man. May be best to upgrade my sites. Depending on the cost of upgrading versus the time and cost of moving, may be worth it. Plus there's the whole speed thing to consider, the website being faster.

Like my main site that I mostly care about seems to work fine on PHP 7.4, but for example the search function throws an error. So if there's just a few issues that need to be fixed then those few can be upgraded and we can keep going.

Still, I have no idea what updating a site to be compatible with newer PHP versions actually means or costs. There may be 1,000 things that need to be changed, bringing the cost up to... well... 1,000 things

looks like its time to quote around looool

 

[Scorpion Ghost]

looks like its time to quote around looool

Would you like to send me $5,000, brother?

 

[xReminisce]

Would you like to send me $5,000, brother?

Your site better be making more than $5k a month if it cost that much for maintenance

 

[Scorpion Ghost]

Your site better be making more than $5k a month if it cost that much for maintenance

No no, the $5k is not for the site. Just for me so I can buy clooothes and shoooes and washing machiiines and ice creeeams and stuff.

Okay if you don't want to send it's no problem. I just figured I ask, because if you don't ask you never get, but if you ask you may get.

I'll keep looking. Maybe Fish or Bass will be more generous!

 

[terrycody]

If I am right, Namecheap won't proactively update PHP version for customers, I don't think update PHP without customers consent is a cool way, but what do I know.

 

[Scorpion Ghost]

Okay, so I decided to upgrade my main site. My developer guy said he can upgrade max up to PHP 7.4. I'm hoping that keeps me going for a few years at least.

He quoted me $40 for the job, which is fine considering I have $5,000.

Would you like to send me $5,000, brother?

So I'll take $40 out of that $5,000 that @xReminisce sent me for the job, and I'll use the rest on cars and clothes and shoes and gold watches and all these things.

My other site is an older version of my main site. A template I got online which had some hidden backlinks and crap, so I paid a guy to clean it up. Once my main site is upgraded I'll try to locate all the changes made, and then implement them on the other site too.

And my last site that requires an older version of php to work, well, this one is wordpress actually. But it's a paid theme that's quite shitty. It was shitty 8 years when I bought it, and it remains so haha. This is one of my oldest sites. Not sure what to do with it. It's defnitely not worth upgrading PHP or spending any money on. It's like a Fiverr-clone that has no payment method available because we can't use paypal on it anymore lol. Maybe I just change the theme and keep it a Fiverr-clone, and just add crypto options for payments and call it a day.

 

[xReminisce]

So I'll take $40 out of that $5,000 that @xReminisce sent me for the job, and I'll use the rest on cars and clothes and shoes and gold watches and all these things.

Uh, i went on a spending splurge earlier and spent it on nfts earlier

He quoted me $40 for the job, which is fine considering I have $5,000.

Hope that includes extensive testing and everything in-between !

 

[Scorpion Ghost]

Uh, i went on a spending splurge earlier and spent it on nfts earlier

Bastard! Evil, Nasty, Rotten, Untrustworthy, Bastard!

Fine okay I guess the children will just eat oxygen to stay alive it's okay it's fine...

Hope that includes extensive testing and everything in-between !

Of course, we are professional!

 

[xReminisce]

And my last site that requires an older version of php to work, well, this one is wordpress actually. But it's a paid theme that's quite shitty. It was shitty 8 years when I bought it, and it remains so haha. This is one of my oldest sites. Not sure what to do with it. It's defnitely not worth upgrading PHP or spending any money on. It's like a Fiverr-clone that has no payment method available because we can't use paypal on it anymore lol. Maybe I just change the theme and keep it a Fiverr-clone, and just add crypto options for payments and call it a day.

Isn't there new fiiver clone websites nows that is already php8.0 or something
that should last you a solid awhile i guess + with crypto payment

Bastard! Evil, Nasty, Rotten, Untrustworthy, Bastard!

I know
I shouldn't be wasting money lool

 

[Scorpion Ghost]

Isn't there new fiiver clone websites nows that is already php8.0 or something
that should last you a solid awhile i guess + with crypto payment

I'm sure there are, but I don't have much desire to run such a site, and so I have no desire in spending hundreds of dollars on a template.

I just already have this site and had it for years, so I'm sort of set to keep it going in some form or fashion.

I know
I shouldn't be wasting money lool

Yes, you shouldn't. You should send it to me, I invest it for you, I lose it, no problem

 

[ManageManga]

They are right to do this, fix your website. It will improve performance and save you from a lot of trouble later

 

[xReminisce]

I'm sure there are, but I don't have much desire to run such a site, and so I have no desire in spending hundreds of dollars on a template.

I just already have this site and had it for years, so I'm sort of set to keep it going in some form or fashion.

DONT WORRY
WORDPRESS 6.0 IS HEREEEE
to save the day, to make your life more diffcult.
They probably break 10 more things with the current themes/plugins etc etc etc

 

[thesyndicate]

We all need to keep upgrading for safety but I had another server besides gator with my old website but now I now just keep my website updates