[BlueOnyx:17522] 5209R "extra" PHP PKGs: Info about update (bugfix/work-around)

[Michael Stauber]

Hi all,

As you all know: BlueOnyx 5209R supports the installation and usage of
multiple different PHP versions at the same time.

When this feature was released, the following PHP PKGs were published to
the BlueOnyx shop and made available via NewLinQ:

5209R-PHP53-5.3.29-1.pkg
5209R-PHP54-5.4.38-1.pkg
5209R-PHP55-5.5.22-1.pkg
5209R-PHP56-5.6.6-1.pkg

I just went through building updated PHP packages, as PHP-5.4.40,
PHP-5.5.24 and PHP-5.6.8 are out. While doing so, I realized that the
initial batch of BlueOnyx 5209R PHP PKGs had a couple of small glitches.
Which I fixed both in the old PKGs and the updated ones.

Bug description:
================

There is one small catch that will affect anyone that has BlueOnyx 5209R
*and* has one of the above mentioned PHP PKGs installed and wants to
upgrade to a newer PHP "extra" PKG of the same PHP sub-version:

When you already have a PHP extra PKG installed and install a newer
version of it, the install will go through without visible error. But
the install directory of the PHP will "disappear". That will force any
Vsite using said PHP version to fall back to the "stock" PHP instead.

Naturally: This is not how it should be.

Work around:
============

This is only necessary *once* and will not be necessary in the future:

If you have a 5209R and have one of the above mentioned PHP versions
installed and want to upgrade it, then please *uninstall* the older
"extra" PHP PKG first. *Then* install the newer one.

Example:

You have PHP56-5.6.6-1 installed and want to upgrade to PHP56-5.6.8-1
instead.

Uninstall the older one first. Then install the new one via NewLinQ.

When you do so, you also have to do two extra steps and I'm really sorry
about that:

1.) After the PKG install go to "Server Management" / "Security" / "PHP
Settings" and enable the updated PHP package to make it available for
Vsites again.

2.) Go to all Vsites that are supposed to use this version of PHP and
switch them back from the default PHP to the PHP version from the package.

I'm really sorry about that.

Like said: I have re-uploaded fixed versions of the initially published
(and somewhat faulty) older PHP PKGs. So at the worst you will have to
do these extra steps only once (per affected server).

Now that this is fixed I triple-checked that future updates are much
more seamless.


How it will work in the future:
===============================

You have a certain PHP "extra" version installed and Vsites are using
it. A newer version of that PHP "extra" version is published to NewLinQ.
You can simply install the update via NewLinQ and without any extra
steps and all Vsites that used to use the older "extra" PHP will
seamlessly switch to using the updated "extra" PHP version instead.

New list of PHP PKGs for 5209R:
================================

The following "extra" PHP versions for BlueOnyx 5209R should be
available on NewLinQ within 24 hours:

5209R-PHP53-5.3.29-1.pkg
5209R-PHP54-5.4.40-1.pkg
5209R-PHP55-5.5.24-1.pkg
5209R-PHP56-5.6.8-1.pkg

As said: They can all be installed at the same time and you can decide
which PHP version any Vsite can use. Different Vsites can use different
PHP versions without conflict. This feature is unique to BlueOnyx 5209R.


PHP updates for all other BlueOnyx versions:
=============================================

Updated PHP PKGs have also been published for 5106R, 5107R, 5108R, 5207R
and 5208R and should become available shortly.

PHP PKGs for those aren't affected by the above mentioned install
problems, so you can directly install them without uninstalling any
older PHP package.

-- 
With best regards

Michael Stauber