PHP Update in Wordpress
I am getting the following message from Wordpress "You cannot update because WordPress 5.4 requires PHP version 5.6.20 or higher. You are running version 5.3.2-1ubuntu4.10.” and I do not know how upgrade my database. Any suggestions?
3 Replies
The current version of PHP is 7.4. PHP 5.6 went EOL in 2018:
https://haydenjames.io/php-5-6-eol-end-of-life-php-7-compatibility-check/
To answer your specific question, see:
https://help.one.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000449117-How-do-I-update-PHP-for-my-WordPress-site-
P.S. Backups are your friend.
-- sw
I could not agree more on back-ups!
I am not very good at website stuff, so your help is appreciated. My site is hosted through Lindode, not one.com does that matter?
mjones
Linode Staff
Hi @twosweetsparrows! If I recall correctly, PHP 5.3 was the default version of PHP for Ubuntu 10.04. If you're running on Ubuntu 10.04 or another distro from around the same time period then it's likely your distro has reached EOL and does not officially support newer versions of PHP.
I'd recommend creating a new Linode with Ubuntu 18.04 or newer, and moving your WordPress site over. You can easily migrate your WordPress site with a backup or migration plugin:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/search/migrate/
To get your new Linode set up quickly, you can use our WordPress One-Click App:
Deploy WordPress with One-Click Apps
Once have your new Linode set up, and have moved over your site, you can exchange the IP address of your current Linode and your new Linode if they're in the same data center: