PHP update needed or not ?

Posted on February 4, 2016

I currently have following PHP version: PHP 5.5.9-1ubuntu4.14 (cli) (built: Oct 28 2015 01:34:46)

Should I update it to 5.6.17 and how can I do this? I have already tried apt-get update & apt-get upgrade without effect to PHP version.

I’m runnning Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS.

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gparent

February 4, 2016

Is there any reason you want to update? If not, you shouldn’t do it.

olliz

February 4, 2016

Nothing other but security reasons? I think old PHP versions can have bugs which affect security.

Justin Samuel

February 4, 2016

Hi,

Ubuntu backports security fixes so they don’t have to change versions and risk breaking compatibility with existing applications. If you’re run apt-get update && apt-get upgrade, your installed PHP package is up to date. (Note that there’s two "&"s in that command right next to each other. It looks like you have one missing in your original question.)

If you’re instead looking to use a different version of PHP for the features in that version (for example, you want to use PHP 5.6 or 7.0), you can use ServerPilot to manage your server. ServerPilot makes available multiple versions of PHP at the same time (currently 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, and 7.0) so it’s easy to change PHP versions for your sites.

For example, this is how you change a site’s PHP version in ServerPilot:

https://serverpilot.io/community/articles/how-to-change-php-version-from-5.5-to-5.6.html