As many of you know, WordPress depends upon a variety of software packages to do the things that it does, as a weblog product (and some of you have extended it even further…). Two of these things are foundational items: PHP, the language and operational runtime for WordPress, and MySQL, the persistence datastore that WordPress uses.
Both of these are being incremented upward to more current versions.
For many WordPress administrators, this will not be a dramatic issue, other than confirming your settings with your site host; some may require some configuration switches being “flipped” to use PHP 5.2 and MySQL 5.0.15. There may even be some adjustments to your site’s php.ini file.
However, if you’re a big-time hacker, and you’ve been coding in some changes to the base WordPress package (and who doesn’t these days, right?), then you will need to ensure that your code has not been exploiting some of the PHP 4 quirks that have changed in PHP 5 syntax: you will have to rewrite or redesign those parts of your code. For some developers, this endeavor may not be trivial.
On the other hand, the MySQL upgrade is generally better tolerated, since a lot of PHP developers tend to use the provided MySQL connector API. Again, however, if you are one of those who enjoys spinning up your own, parallel data persistence API or are using another package in addition to the WordPress one, you will have to ascertain the LoE for modifying your code. Also, if you have crafted some stored procedures for your MySQL 4 instance(s), you may have to re-implant them into your waiting MySQL 5 instance(s) once they are ready. Code-wise, it should be a straightforward import for most developers.
N.B.
Further reading of interest:
Tagged as:
MySQL,
Oracle,
PHP,
programming,
upgrade,
WordPress
Have Fun!
Happy Fourth of July, folks (at the very least, this should be applicable to our American readers)! Get your game on, with the extended weekend being celebrated across the U.S. Or get your barbie fired up, for you fans of BBQ grilling. Or just relax and let other people do things for you!
A lot of the local news and national news outlets have been reporting that travel plans have improved for this year, not because of an improving economy, but because many people have voiced their frustrations at waiting for things to get better when they apparently are not. As a result, the sense of stir-craziness that has been brewing and intensifying seems to have hit a boiling point, and the public has decided that its time to “get out there” and do something fun.
But, Seriously… Have Fun!
But even if you haven’t left town, you should do something fun. Unwind during these heady days of summer. Have a ball. Eat some exotic foods. Go dancing at a local club. Even try some online gaming with players from around the world. Make some new friends!
N.B.
Read the other Independence Day entries.
Tagged as:
economics,
holiday,
Independence Day,
vacation