Question PHP 5.2 on Almalinux 8 (moving from CentOS 7)

[Groo]

Server operating system version

Almalinux 8.9

Plesk version and microupdate number

18.0.56 #4

Hi all,

CentOS7 still came with Plesk supporting PHP 5.2 - I have one ancient site I'm still supporting that requires it to run.

I did finally get PHP 5.2.17 to work in Almalinux 8.9/Plesk but it was a lot of work! I had to use an earlier version of OpenSSL (1.0.2k), backports, libxml2-2.9 patch, fiddling with PCRE, and some other fun stuff.

I'm wondering if anyone else has done it and/or found a proper tutorial.

Thx

 

[Yaroslav_T]

Hi @Groo !
On the Plesk side, we don't have any special guides on that since it's not the desired scenario (i.e. it's considered a customization and security risk). I understand that it's needed to maintain an old website, however, the main intention to move to a newer OS is to use newer technologies, like OpenSSL (1.1.1 in the case of Alma8) and PHP versions. So since Plesk uses OpenSSL from the OS repo, it's indeed required to install old OpenSSL first, and then add the required PHP. For adding a custom PHP, I'd recommend checking this article: https://support.plesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/12377508651415 (pls keep in mind, that the article assumes that your "custom" PHP is compatible with the OS vendor OpenSSL)

 

[Maarten]

Hi,

I've used this project for a few ancient websites that needed an old PHP version:

GitHub - dshafik/php7-mysql-shim: A shim for ext/mysql in PHP 7+

A shim for ext/mysql in PHP 7+. Contribute to dshafik/php7-mysql-shim development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

It's mainly a solution for sites that still use the older MySQL functions in PHP. This library maps the mysql functions to the newer mysqli functions.

 

[Groo]

It's mainly a solution for sites that still use the older MySQL functions in PHP. This library maps the mysql functions to the newer mysqli functions.

Thanks this may come in handy!

I also looked into phpbrew but for 5.2 specifically that was even more of a headache to get working so I abandoned it.