Trying to make PHP 5.6 available using an EasyApache 4 custom profile, but it says it will not install unsupported packages?

[Kadence]

I know that PHP 5.6 is a security risk, but I have some very old sites that use mysql_connect(), so I would like to install it on an Ubuntu machine. I'm trying to install it with an EasyApache 4 custom profile, but it says it will not install unsupported packages. What else do I need to do to get cPanel to make PHP 5.6 available, other than creating a custom EasyApache 4 profile? I am using cPanel Ubuntu 20.04.

For some background, this article says that PHP 5.6 is not available in Ubuntu:

https://support.cpanel.net/hc/en-us/articles/4405080880023-What-versions-of-PHP-are-available-in-EasyApache-4-on-Ubuntu

It is installable in CentOS. However this article:

Removal of PHP 5.6 and PHP 7.0 in EasyApache Profiles | cPanel Blog

Unsupported versions of PHP will be removed from EasyApache 4 in 2020. Find out if this affects you and what you need to do.

blog.cpanel.com

Says,

If CloudLinux is not an option for you or your customers, there is the option to create a custom EasyApache 4 profile and continue to use PHP 5.6 and 7.0, but we do not recommend it.

And links here:

EasyApache 4 - Create a Profile - EasyApache 4 - cPanel Documentation

documentation.cpanel.net

That page says,

All custom profiles save to the /etc/cpanel/ea4/profiles/custom directory.

And gives this example profile file:

{
"version":"1.2",
"name":"SuperHost Profile",
"tags":[
"Apache 2.4",
"PHP 7.0",
"tomorrow comes knocking",
"..."
],
"desc":"This profile will allow you to have super high density on your system",
"pkgs":[
"ea-mod_xyz",
"ea-php70",
"ea-php71",
"ea-your_frog",
"..."
]
}

There is a file, /etc/cpanel/ea4/profiles/pkg-manifest.json. There is also a sub-folder /etc/cpanel/ea4/profiles/cpanel, which contains these files:

allphp-opcache.json
allphp.json
default-nginx.json
default.json
mpm_itk.json
nophp.json
worker.json

I made a folder, /etc/cpanel/ea4/profiles/custom, and made a file myprofile.json (based on default.json) containing:

{
"desc" : "A custom profile to add PHP 5.6 and PHP 7.0.",
"name" : "cPanel with PHP 5.6",
"pkgs" : [
"ea-apache24",
"ea-apr",
"ea-apr-util",
"ea-apache24-mod-mpm-prefork",
"ea-apache24-mod-ruid2",
"ea-apache24-mod-ssl",
"ea-apache24-mod-deflate",
"ea-apache24-mod-expires",
"ea-apache24-mod-headers",
"ea-apache24-mod-proxy",
"ea-apache24-mod-proxy-fcgi",
"ea-apache24-mod-cgi",
"ea-apache24-mod-unique-id",
"ea-apache24-mod-security2",
"ea-php56",
"ea-php70",
"ea-php81",
"ea-php81-php-bcmath",
"ea-php81-php-calendar",
"ea-php81-php-curl",
"ea-php81-php-ftp",
"ea-php81-php-gd",
"ea-php81-php-iconv",
"ea-php81-php-imap",
"ea-php81-php-mbstring",
"ea-php81-php-mysqlnd",
"ea-php81-php-pdo",
"ea-php81-php-posix",
"ea-php81-php-sockets",
"ea-php81-php-xml",
"ea-php81-runtime",
"ea-php81-php-fpm",
"ea-php81-php-zip",
"ea-php80",
"ea-php80-php-bcmath",
"ea-php80-php-calendar",
"ea-php80-php-curl",
"ea-php80-php-ftp",
"ea-php80-php-gd",
"ea-php80-php-iconv",
"ea-php80-php-imap",
"ea-php80-php-mbstring",
"ea-php80-php-mysqlnd",
"ea-php80-php-pdo",
"ea-php80-php-posix",
"ea-php80-php-sockets",
"ea-php80-php-xml",
"ea-php80-runtime",
"ea-php80-php-fpm",
"ea-php80-php-zip"
],
"tags" : [
"Apache 2.4",
"PHP 8.0",
"PHP 8.1"
],
"version" : 1
}

However, in EasyApache 4, though I can see the new profile option, it says:

This profile includes the following packages that are not supported on this server:

• php56
• php70

The system will not install the unsupported packages. Do you wish to continue?

And if I try to Customize the profile, PHP 5.6 and PHP 7.0 do not show up under Customize>PHP Versions.

Is there something I can to force cPanel to add these PHP versions as installable options? What other steps do I need to take to make PHP 5.6 available?

 

[cPRex]

Hey there! Unfortunately, no, there's not going to be a way to force that to work even with a custom profile. The best option would be to move the accounts that need the older version to a machine running the CloudLinux operating system. That will allow them to use the older versions in a more secure fashion with CageFS.

 

[ResellerWiz]

I agree with @cPRex, if you need to use older PHP versions/modules, using CloudLinux is the best way to go.

 

[Kadence]

Hey there! Unfortunately, no, there's not going to be a way to force that to work even with a custom profile. The best option would be to move the accounts that need the older version to a machine running the CloudLinux operating system. That will allow them to use the older versions in a more secure fashion with CageFS.

Thank you. What about CentOS 7? This article says PHP 5.6 is available on CentOS 7.

https://support.cpanel.net/hc/en-us/articles/4404715760023

Would there be any issues with using CentOS 7? And/or is there any reason to prefer CloudLinux?

 

[ResellerWiz]

Thank you. What about CentOS 7? This article says PHP 5.6 is available on CentOS 7.

https://support.cpanel.net/hc/en-us/articles/4404715760023

Would there be any issues with using CentOS 7? And/or is there any reason to prefer CloudLinux?

CloudLinux offers hardened older versions of PHP for security, CentOS 7 does not.

 

[cPRex]

Also, CentOS 7 has a very short life at this point, so it doesn't make sense to me to spend time building a new system on an operating system with limited support.

 

[KevAtkinson]

I had a site running some really old PHP code and was struggling after a few years away from programming to adapt it to PHP 8.x

I started a ChatGPT session, and pasted in the old code asking AI to re-write my code for PHP 8. As if by magic it re-wrote the code and even made it more efficient. I copied and pasted that back into a dev account running PHP 8.1 and the code worked a treat. Actually blew my mind!

 

[bellwood]

If this is still a concern, consider using rector:

GitHub - rectorphp/rector: Instant Upgrades and Automated Refactoring of any PHP 5.3+ code

Instant Upgrades and Automated Refactoring of any PHP 5.3+ code - GitHub - rectorphp/rector: Instant Upgrades and Automated Refactoring of any PHP 5.3+ code

github.com

...which can handle the migration of mysql -> mysqli pretty easily:

How to change mysql to mysqli?

Based on this code below I use for regular mysql, how could I convert it to use mysqli? Is it as simple as changing mysql_query($sql); to mysqli_query($sql);? <?PHP //in my header file that is

stackoverflow.com