Re: a perhaps horrifying question...

[Jan Ingvoldstad <frettled@gmail.com>]

On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 9:20 PM, Steve Wray <steve.wray@cwa.co.nz> wrote:

Is there any way to 'forward port' php4 into Debian Lenny?

Do you know anyone who has done this? Are there packages available?

I don't know of any such packages, but why not compile PHP 4 yourself, and if you have a bunch of servers to install it to, consider packaging it?

The bonus is that you get control over the PHP installation, e.g. by disabling the built-in, insecure GD and substituting the external package.

Make sure that you use apache2-prefork (PHP doesn't like threading) and install apache2-prefork-dev (to get the apxs2 binary).

The PHP part of these instructions should get you the rest of the way:

http://www.web-tech-india.com/articles/php/compiling_php_apache/

PS: I'm with Alexander that you really had enough advance warning to upgrade to PHP 5, but it doesn't help you much to know what you should've done earlier. Now you can focus your efforts on upgrading to PHP 6 instead, since PHP 6 is bound to replace PHP 5 in a few years.
-- 
Jan