Eat My Business

XAMPP is a package that you can download to make the installation of PHP, MySql and Apache an easier task.

At the time of writing, the latest XAMPP package (version 1.6.0a) installs PHP 5.2.1 & PHP 4.4.5 (amongst the other software in the bundle).

Although it is great to have the latest stable release of PHP 5, I wish to use an extension called DBG (a PHP Debugger application) alongside it. DBG is very sensitive to the version of PHP it is running with. Unfortunately the latest free release of DBG currently only supports all php versions from 4.0.6 up to 4.4.2 and from 5.0.0 up to 5.1.2 and the latest commercial version supports all php versions from 4.3.0 up to 4.4.4 and from 5.0.0 up to 5.1.6.

This means that I need to install an older version of PHP onto my development machine. I’d prefer to do it the easy way, via XAMPP, so I’m now on a mission to find the XAMPP release that matches my PHP requirements.

Finding an XAMPP release to match a specific version of PHP

You can download older versions of XAMPP from their sourceforge project page.

So far, I have not been able to see any detailed info about which versions of PHP are included in each package.

I have, however, found the archive of the XAMPP news announcements which offers an insight into what is included in each release.

By using these two resources, with a bit of leg-work, I should be able to work out which version of XAMPP is the one for me, listing my progress below.

Your Comments are Encouraged

As I proceed with my search I will scribble my notes on this page for my own record and for the benefit of others in my situation. I would appreciate it if you could contribute to this list by adding comments that would help anyone looking for a specific version of PHP in an XAMPP release. If you do comment, it would be helpful to identify:

1. The Version of PHP in the comment title
2. The corresponding version of XAMPP
3. The versions of the other software bundled into that release.

Better still, if you know any web page that already contains this info, then please let us know!

A Note to Apache Friends/XAMPP: Feel free to copy and use this info on your site / documentation.

The list so far…

• PHP 5.2.1 & PHP 4.4.5
  In XAMPP 1.6.0a
  Key applications in bundle:
  * Apache 2.2.4
  * MySQL 5.0.33
  * PHP 5.2.1 & PHP 4.4.5
  * phpMyAdmin 2.9.2
  * FileZilla FTP Server 0.9.22
  * OpenSSL 0.9.8d
• PHP 4.4.4 and 5.1.6
  XAMPP 1.5.4 version for Linux and Windows
  Key applications in bundle:
  Apache (2.2.3), MySQL (5.0.24a), phpMyAdmin (2.8.2.4), PHP (4.4.4 and 5.1.6) and OpenSSL (0.9.8c).
  (+ ADOdb (4.91) and FileZilla FTP Server (0.9.18) for Windows)
  Announced September, 11th 2006
• PHP 5.1.4
  in XAMPP 1.5.3 for Windows and Linux
  Key applicitions in bundle:
  PHP 5.1.4, MySQL 5.0.21, Apache 2.2.2, phpMyAdmin 2.8.1 and OpenSSL 0.9.8b.
  Announced May, 29th 2006
  
• PHP 5.1.2 and 4.4.2
  XAMPP 1.5.2 Version for Linux and Windows <–The One That I Want, ooh ooh, ooooh…hunny ;o)
  Key applicitions in bundle:
  PHP 5.1.2 and 4.4.2, MySQL 5.0.20, eAccelerator 0.9.4 and phpMyAdmin 2.8.0.3, Apache 2.2.0.
  Announced April, 26th 2006
• PHP 5.1.1 + PHP 4.4.1-pl1 + PEAR
  In XAMPP (basic package) version 1.5.1
  Key applications in bundle:
  + Apache 2.2.0
  + MySQL 5.0.18
  + PHP 5.1.1 + PHP 4.4.1-pl1 + PEAR
  + eAccelerator 0.9.4-rc1
  + PHP-Switch win32 1.0 (from Apachefriends, use the “php-switch.bat”)
  + XAMPP Control Version 2.1 from www.nat32.com
  + XAMPP Security 1.0
  + SQLite 2.8.15
  + OpenSSL 0.9.8a
  + phpMyAdmin 2.7.0 pl1
  + ADOdb 4.68
  + FPDF 1.5.3
  + Mercury Mail Transport System v4.01b
  + FileZilla FTP Server 0.9.11
  + Webalizer 2.01-10
  + Zend Optimizer 2.6.0
• and so on….

A note on reverting to older versions of XAMPP

After uninstalling XAMPP version 1.6.0a and then installing XAMPP 1.5.2 my phpinfo() was still telling me that I was running PHP 5.2.1. This confused me somewhat. In the end, I used XAMPP’s “Switch PHP version” feature to go from version 5 to 4, then ran it again to go back to 5. After that I rebooted my PC and, to my relief, the phpinfo() was now showing up as PHP Version 5.1.2.

Notes & Alternatives

update: Info here, Info on getting DBG to work with Eclips, says get XAMPP 1.5.0 (to avoid having to use Apache 2.2 - cos the older version of php won’t work with it)

another helpful article

One other method of getting DBG to work on my development machine is to simply buy a copy of NuSpehere’s PhpED, this apparently includes a WAMP solution with the package.

I have just begun to learn how to use the powerful free IDE called Eclipse (plus the PHPEclipse plugin) with the super book PHPEclipse: A User Guide by my side. Having just discovered NuSpehere’s PhpED I’m now in two minds about which IDE to go for. Eclipse is great (and free), but PhpED seems to be a lot easier to get up and running with. Either way, as I’m, now, so far into setting up Eclipse, I’ll give it a go. however, if it becomes too much trouble to work with I’ll try out NuSphere’s offering. In fact, having thought about it, I’m going to set up a new blog post to encourage a debate.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 at 3:02 am and is filed under XAMPP, PHP, MySQL, Apache, installing software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.