Upgrading to PHP 5 from OS X Server 10.4.11

Yes, Mac OS X Server 10.4 Tiger includes php, MySQL and the Apache web server. All are (now) old versions.

Options: Acquire and install 10.5 Leopard Server. Or shut down the Mac OS X Server versions of MySQL, Apache and php (and avoid the web sections and related sections of Server Admin when managing the box, et al) and install and use [MAMP|http://mamp.info] in place of the installed versions. Or knuckle down and install Xcode and learn how to build and install php alongside the existing (and explicitly disabled) php4 installation; run some Google searches and take a look around for the details on this process including [Entropy|http://www.entropy.ch/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=9499] and [TopicDesk|http://osx.topicdesk.com/content/view/48/41>, and various other threads here in the forums.

Given it appears you're unfamiliar with using phpinfo() to determine the configuration and versions, working to retrofit php5 (through any of the available means) means you're going to be learning rather much about Mac OS X Server and Mac OS X Server system administration, and around building php. And to a lesser extent, learning about IP networking. (As for phpinfo(), you can determine the configuration using a file containing +<?php phpinfo(); ?>+ in your web server root directory, and requesting it from a web browser. This php program is very useful, but don't leave this lying around in your web directories.)

Best (easiest) option if you don't want to provide on-going support for and security of this stuff yourself and deal with the operations of and interactions with the various pieces of Mac OS X Server and its installed php4 bits? Upgrade off of 10.4 Tiger Server to 10.5 Leopard Server.

As for your choice here, you know your own current gear best (and particularly whether it is supported for use with Leopard Server, for instance), and with how you want to spend your time and your budget here. And when you're budgeting this, should you add your own php5 pieces here, you're also accepting the ongoing costs and time for the upkeep and any subsequent upgrades needed for the php5 bits you've loaded.

Hi,
I'm also trying to install PHP 5 on Mac OS X Tiger Server 10.4.

Marc Liyanage's Entropy page provides a PHP 5 package for OS X 10.4 but discourages it as outdated and probably insecure. Instead I tried following TopicDesk's instructions for installing PHP 5.2.10 from source almost exactly. When I ran 'make test' as a prior command to 'make install' (make test wasn't mentioned in TopicDesk's instructions), I got the two error messages:

1.) "ob_start(): Ensure unerasable buffer cannot be flushed by ob_flush(). tests/output/ob start_basic_unerasable005.phpt"

2.) "SPL: ArrayObject::exchangeArray() basic usage with object as underlying data store. ext/spl/tests/arrayObject exchangeArraybasic3.phpt"

(square brackets removed for the sake of this forum's post syntax)

Any ideas on how I could install a safe version of PHP 5? Or should I go all out and upgrade the server OS to 10.5?

As stated earlier, I tried compiling the latest PHP 5.2.x from source using TopicDesk's instructions and failed. Next, I tried Entropy's 5.2.4 package for OS X Server 10.4. After the installer happily installed PHP 5 without any complaints, Server Admin could no longer get web service to start anymore until I removed the symbolic link to Entropy PHP's conf file. Not sure if this was expected behavior of the install.