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I haven't been able to find any info regarding this anywhere while burying through the thousands of results I have been getting concerning php5 so here goes.

We have several FreeBSD 9.2 machines and one FreeBSD 10.0 machine all with mod_php5 (currently on version 5.4.32) installed which is the latest for that port. However, we know that 5.5 and 5.6 have been subsequently released and were wondering a few things:

  1. When is the main mod_php5 port updated to the latest versions usually?
  2. Why are the versions kept separate? Is it a question about stability?
  3. If we chose to upgrade to 5.5 using the mod_php55 port, could this create any issues with other ports that may want to have mod_php5 installed as a dependency and, if so, is there any way to prevent this other then simply waiting for the mod_php5 port to be updated to 5.5?

Thank you for your time!

Mat
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2 Answers2

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PHP 5.6.0 was released today. It wont be in the ports tree for at least a week, more likely a month.

www/mod_php5 is just a meta-port for lang/php5 with certain options enabled. The lang/php5 port is always one minor version behind the current production release (currently PHP 5.5 is considered the "current" release, so lang/php5 is still PHP 5.4). I would expect in the next month or two the versions will be rolled forward (eg lang/php5 will become PHP 5.5, and a /lang/php56 port will be created).

If you need details I'd drop the maintainer a quick e-mail. I don't see anything in the mailing lists yet.

Chris S
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Here's the answer I got from the maintainer:

1.When is the main php5 port updated to the next version after its release, in this case 5.5, usually? Is it a fixed timeframe or is it based on testing of the version?

Actually since the addition of php 5.5 in the ports tree we changed the old practice, now every new major version will stay in its own directory forever. You should think about lang/php5 as lang/php54, it'll not be updated to any other major release.

2.Why are the different versions kept separate like this with the newer version being renamed instead of the opposite?

Because a lot of users complained about incompatibilities between major versions, so we decided to not having anymore an on-the-edge phpX port. This complicates php updates between major versions, but at least doesn't break current deployments.

3.If we chose to upgrade to 5.5, using the php55 port, could this create any issues with other ports that may want to have the php5 port installed as a dependency?

No, if done correctly. The port system recognize which php version you have installed and correctly depends on it.

-- Alex Dupre (ale@FreeBSD.org)

Mat
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