Topic: Will upgrading my (Godaddy) website to PHP 8.1 break things?

[DaleReid]

It is a busy time for me this summer so I don't want to break something and spend endless time trying to back track.

In general, I have been taught and believe to keep all the software and firmware up to date, for compatibility and security reasons.

I haven't been to my owner page on Godaddy for a bit and notice that PHP 8.1 is shown as an update.

I run mainly the web pages generated by Weather Display and PWS, along with a few other uploads running pages generated by WeeWx.

I barely know what PHP does at the general level, say nothing about what subtle differences there is between one version and another.

So is there a risk of breaking something by moving to the latest version of PHP on the server?  Dale

[92merc]

As long as you've been keeping your scripts up to date, it should be OK.

I'm on Saratoga scripts and GoDaddy.  I'm running 8.1 version of PHP.  I just checked, and that is the latest mine shows.  Everything is working for me.

[DaleReid]

Thanks.
I'll also check with GD to see if they can roll back a PHP upgrade if things don't work.

Again thanks for the info.  Dale

[92merc]

Under your CPanel, Software, there is "Select PHP version".  There is a drop down where you can select your version.

I have 5.6, 7.3, 7.4, 8.0, 8.1.  You can flip in a few seconds between the versions yourself.  If you go up to 8.1, test your site and see if any scripts aren't working.  If it doesn't work, it's as easy as going back to what ever version you're at now.

[DaleReid]

Thanks for the guide.  I haven't poked around in there except after setting it  up years ago, and other than send stuff via Filezilla to update and modify MY code, don't know about the system on Godday's end end very much.  Thank you for sharing your knowldege.

Hey, do  you know if I can RSYNC with Godaddy, or always just FTP stuff to the server?
Dale

[92merc]

I've never tried to setup Rsync.  My bet is that if you're on the shared hosting plan like I am, you won't be able to.  Mainly because you are sharing a server with multiple other websites.  So adding that feature to the server would affect everyone on the server.  GoDaddy doesn't allow that with the shared hosting plan.

[DaleReid]

Shared?  I thought I bought my own little piece of their hardware/software to run my web pages. 

This exceeds my ability to figure out, but will poke around.  My take on this is that Rsync is just an efficient form of FTP but that is my again naive point of understanding. 

[92merc]

The cheaper plans from GoDaddy, you're sharing a server with other websites.  Usually these are good enough for most small websites.

The higher end plans you get your own server dedicated to you.  But those cost quite a bit more.

[DaleReid]

Wow, I had no idea.  I just figured the software gave me a chunk of a machine when needed.  Thanks for the clarification which makes good sense. Dale