Hi Couch forumites, hi KK!

I a have my website running for some years now with Couch v2.1 and I have currently PHP version 7.0.33. So I am wondering, if I should update my couch to 2.4 version and if it is straight forward thing, as it was in earlier versions. Or is it better to update to a lower version. I do not have time to rearrange my website, if that would be necessary. I stopped building websites some 7 years ago so I am rusty, and would take me a lot of time.
Main main concern is that I am using the old PHP version, and if that might pose some security risks or such. I am not sure if I really need all the new features of newer couch versions. At least not right now.
Is PHP 8 compatible with Couch 2.1 at all?
And, are other couch versions higher than mine straightforward to upgrade or would I need to rewrite some pages?

Thanks in advance!

[KK]

Hi Tanja

From what I have seen, people upgrade to PHP 8.x mostly because their hosting companies arm-twist them into doing this.
If you have the option of going on with your current version of PHP, you may continue with your existing Couch installation.

If, however, you do need to upgrade to PHP 8, then you'll also need to upgrade you Couch to the current version available from GitHub.

Couch, per se, will have no problem in going from 2.1 to 2.4 *but* if your site uses any custom PHP code (e.g. in kfunctions.php) or older addons not part of Couch core, that might cause the site to break if any PHP syntax incompatible with PHP 8.x is used.
Addons, if downloaded from our forums, are likely to have their compatible versions already available for download and you can use those. Code in kfunctions.php could need reviewing to fix the errors.

Needless to say, you should make sure to take a MySQL backup first before attempting any upgrade.

Hope this answers your query.

Hello Kamran,
thank you very much for your reply!
For now, I can continue with the older PHP version, but I'm afraid that one day that arm twisting will happen.
Mamoto is already giving warnings that my version of PHP is outdated and not secure.
Thanks for the instruction too! I think I'll go looking to identify the changes I'd need to make so I can do this faster once it becomes mandatory.

Thanks for the superb CMS once again. It runs smoothly for 9 years already on my website