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Public area => The Pub => Topic started by: Nao on December 21st, 2013, 02:20 PM

Title: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on December 21st, 2013, 02:20 PM
I figured I could ask that.

I've often met situations where I wanted to turn silly create_function() calls into closures, but this morning -- more frustration for me. I figured I could rewrite the cache handler to basically link cache_get_data and cache_put_data together by putting the regeneration code into a closure, which would then allow me to easily benchmark regeneration times, instead of just cache storage times.

So, this just means-- "I'd really like to use PHP 5.3 in Wedge."
But then, it also means that a third of all servers won't be able to install Wedge. IIRC, Wedge.org runs on PHP 5.5 or something, and my Wampserver has PHP 5.3, so it's not a problem for me, and generally speaking I think that the '5.2 third' portion is likely to be a portion of servers that have either been abandoned, or just not maintained very often, and thus more likely to cause configuration problems when using Wedge.

In short:
- 5.2 is the current version required by Wedge. PHP 5.2 is great.
- 5.3 is a bit better, not THAT much better, but I've been wanting to do closures for years, just like I'm doing in JavaScript. Going for PHP 5.3 won't make my life much easier, and won't make Wedge better. But still, I'd like to look into it.

The competition usually has a required PHP version < 5.3: xenForo has 5.2 IIRC, SMF has something like 4.0 (lulz, but they're trying to account for website upgrades, while I'm betting on website importing), even newer software like esoTalk only requires 'PHP 5'. Vanilla, I think has a requirement of 5.1. The only 'popular' PHP package I know of that requires PHP 5.3 is Laravel, and it's a framework, not a forum package. So, both logic and statistics tell me to keep using 5.2, although maybe, well... Maybe it's okay, hence this poll.

Remember, Wedge is striving to remain compatible with as many browsers as possible; but when it comes to the server behind it, this is usually something that most serious webmasters CAN control, and personally, I like being in charge!
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Norodo on December 21st, 2013, 02:37 PM
My sole host (Nearlyfreespeech) supports anything up to 5.5.

I don't really care what you choose here. Do what makes your job easier.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: kimikelku on December 21st, 2013, 03:34 PM
Alot of code from smf to run on old configurations was removed right?
Why not do the same for php?
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on December 21st, 2013, 04:26 PM
Actually when we switched to php 5 only, it was so we could remove all legacy code. ;)
Not the case here, although I could remove magic quotes. Yay.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: forumsearch0r on December 21st, 2013, 05:16 PM
Quote from Nao on December 21st, 2013, 02:20 PM
So, this just means-- "I'd really like to use PHP 5.3 in Wedge."
But then, it also means that a third of all servers won't be able to install Wedge.
So?

Two incidents will happen:

1. More users will use a more modern server (change their provider or even rent their own servers) as more web applications require a newer PHP version.
2. Following that, more providers will see that they should keep PHP up-to-date.

Win-win.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on December 21st, 2013, 05:52 PM
It's hard to be in the group that forces people to upgrade because they also get criticized for it. But yes if frameworks like Laravel can be popular, there's no reason to believe it will be the death of Wedge.

Simply, couple of years ago, someone complained that they couldn't install Wedge because of php limitations and I seriously wanted to help with that. I'm afraid I might 'lose' the opportunity for Wedge to be on great forums that are on slightly less thrilling hosts.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: forumsearch0r on December 21st, 2013, 06:20 PM
No one forces anyone to upgrade. Still, if there's no valid reason to update PHP as everything still supports ancient versions, no one will.
Quote
# php -v
PHP 5.5.7 (cli) (built: Dec 15 2013 01:29:16)
:whistle:
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Farjo on December 21st, 2013, 07:18 PM
People have to upgrade, it's the way it is. Whether it's the OS, hardware, your camera, things just start to stop working if you leave things the same.

And those are the stats now, but usage changes quickly and who knows what they will be when Wedge v1.0 is released?

And perhaps it'll keep the cheapo riff-raff away :P
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Wanchope on December 21st, 2013, 07:58 PM
5.4
My SMF forum I will convert is running on cloud vps so no problemo for that.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Aaron Smith on December 22nd, 2013, 08:47 AM
I think the minimum version should be whatever makes the best software. It seems to me there are a lot of benefits to be gained at that 5.3 threshold without the loss of too many possible hosts.

Although it should be noted that I'll run whatever version is necessary to run Wedge. Most VPS servers can easily be upgraded with a simple ticket. So really only shared hosts are at risk in this equation I think.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on December 22nd, 2013, 09:42 AM
Powerbob, can't you ask your host for php 5.3 support..? What is your host, anyway?
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Wanchope on December 22nd, 2013, 09:50 AM
I doesn't take anything to upgrade new PHP version, any shared hosting that doesn't have the latest version of PHP is not worth using.
ASk the host to upgrade.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on December 22nd, 2013, 12:23 PM
Yes, I think I'll be going for PHP 5.3
I'm mostly convinced by the fact that PHP 5.2 is End of Life, its last version was released over 2 years ago, and even 5.3 is nearing End of Line (July 2014), and will no longer receive any bug fixes, only security fixes, apparently. Going for 5.4-only was a joke in my poll, because it's clearly not widespread enough, but 5.3 seems more realistic to me.
Also, I can afford that because Wedge is imported from SMF, so if someone can't use it, they can still remain on SMF, or switch to ElkArte or Protendo for instance. Really, not a big deal.
Myself, I guess I'm more concerned with pushing things forward.

My main concern right now, though, is to ensure that all of the faithful Wedge followers can install it when it's available. I seem to remember that back in the private alpha days (a year ago), someone had trouble with a feature that was 5.3-only, but I couldn't find that discussion. Powerbob is a regular on this forum, he's been here for years, and I wouldn't like to leave him on the side of the road. Every regular in here is important to me, it's important that they're satisfied with Wedge, and that they can end up using it on their forums, because that's what they've been waiting for for so long.

My second concern is that even if I went for 5.3... What is the minimum 5.3 version I should adopt? For PHP 5.2, it was 5.2.4 because of the support of \h and a few other goodies. For PHP 5.3, what would be the acceptable version? 5.3.0? Or much higher? According to w3techs, a safe version to use would be 5.3.3, because it's still in use by 21% of all 5.3 installs. But 5.3.2 is also used by 3% of them, should I drop these from my support list without even reading through the 5.3 changelogs? I don't know, honestly...
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on December 22nd, 2013, 01:08 PM
Hmm, I spent a few minutes at Powerbob's host (charlottezweb):
- Apparently, it's a host with links to the SMF team (their forum is SMF, and it has members who come from SMF too),
- Their PHP 5 upgrade dates back to 2006, so they have no reasons not to switch to 5.3 (are you sure they never did?)

Considering that 5.2 was released in late 2006 and 5.3 in early 2009, if a host only follows PHP 5.2 releases (which stopped 2 years ago!), then they're clearly out of the game, i.e. they're not willing to do any more work to get things going, and they're only relying on an existing pool of installed websites that bring some monthly cash. I'm not saying it's a 'bad' thing (well, I'm not saying it's not wrong either), but if you're into building new websites, it may be best to do it on a server that's more up to date, because right now, there's a chance your server is, err... How can I say that..? Outdated, not only in terms of software versions, but also in OS patches, and other security fixes.

Security is important, especially because black hats will never stop trying to abuse security holes, and your website is only as safe as the weakest link in your whole hosting chain, i.e. if your OS is outdated you can get hacked even if you're on PHP 5.5, if your PHP is 4.x then you can get hacked even on a new OS, if your Apache is too old, same thing, etc.
Back in 2010, we decided to go for PHP 5.0+, when SMF was still in PHP 4.0 era. It was way overdue. Then a couple of years later, we thought it was safe to require PHP 5.2. But statistics aren't everything. Hosts should be playing the security game, not you. That's what you're paying them for.
So, it's the web software's duty to push for better server updates. Browser updates are harder to consider because it's pretty much impossible to require of your customers/visitors to change their browser from some IE crap to Chrome or something else, and that's who you want to deal with. They're important for you. Your host? You can always switch hosts if you're not happy with them.
I personally have only good things to say about OVH (which hosts Cynagames.com) and AlwaysData (which hosts Noisen and Wedge), two French companies with good prices and a good service. And their software versions are up to date, too!
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Powerbob on December 22nd, 2013, 01:38 PM
Quote from Nao on December 22nd, 2013, 09:42 AM
Powerbob, can't you ask your host for php 5.3 support..? What is your host, anyway?
I have just sent a request to my host, they are normally very good and answer very quickly. Lets wait and see what they come back with :cool:

I am with Charlottezweb and so far never had a problem with requests :eheh:
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on December 22nd, 2013, 01:59 PM
Yes but upgrading PHP is not a trivial action, of course. Let's see what they have to say.
Which is why they may have decided to stick to 5.2. But since 5.2 was EOL'ed two years ago, it doesn't make sense.
In fact, I'm going to switch to 5.3 on my local install, if only for security.

Do you have any 'active' website, BTW? Because pplb.net only has demos on it, and the root is empty...

Also, did you do a phpinfo() on them, are you sure it's 5.2 on their server? Which one, 5.2.17?
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Powerbob on December 22nd, 2013, 02:01 PM
Cpanel says 5.2.17

Yes I have 4 websites in total with different domain names.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Powerbob on December 22nd, 2013, 02:05 PM
Quote from Powerbob on December 22nd, 2013, 02:01 PM
Cpanel says 5.2.17

Yes I have 4 websites in total with different domain names. That is apart from the demos :whistle:
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on December 22nd, 2013, 02:06 PM
Well... Then, it's time to determine if you're willing to switch hosts for Wedge if Charlottezweb won't update their site for you.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Powerbob on December 22nd, 2013, 02:15 PM
waiting for an answer now :whistle:
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on December 22nd, 2013, 03:38 PM
Keep me posted ASAP! (Well, timezones permitting, of course!)
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Powerbob on December 22nd, 2013, 04:41 PM
OK all done, now (well in a couple of hours) on 5.3 :yahoo:
Can you change my vote on the poll for me please? done myself :whistle:
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on December 22nd, 2013, 06:15 PM
Great! Does this mean 5.3 was already there, but disabled...?
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Oracle on December 22nd, 2013, 11:16 PM
 Using - cloudweb.com > running PHP 5.4.3 - Great host.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on December 23rd, 2013, 12:10 AM
Fun fact. I switched my localhost to PHP 5.3.13, and mysqli no longer worked. Switched to 5.4.11, same.
Had to frigging backup, uninstall WampServer, delete everything, reinstall WS, restore my virtualhost data into the httpd.conf file, re-enable rewrite_module (I'm not sure why it's disabled by default........ made me lose 20 minutes), and then it started working again.
All in all: 2 hours used up. Hopefully not all servers are messed up like mine..... :P
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Oracle on December 23rd, 2013, 12:42 AM
Gee I hope you didn't do all this on my account. > I did say 5.4.3 :) - Wonder why my host isn't experiencing problems?
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: MultiformeIngegno on December 23rd, 2013, 02:35 AM
I voted for 5.4.. let's push the future!!!!!!! :D
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: forumsearch0r on December 23rd, 2013, 03:33 AM
The future is 5.6.
Sorry.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Hey Arnold! on December 23rd, 2013, 05:12 AM
I guest next year release PHP 5.6 :P
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on December 23rd, 2013, 11:41 AM
Okay, after 14 votes, I think it's safe to say that PHP 5.3 will be my choice. ;)

- I'll be implementing closures (anonymous functions) for cache_get_data (hopefully, as there are many occurrences to transform), anything that uses the awfully slow and ugly create_function(), and a few other places.
- I'll restore nl2br($stuf, false) functions that I'd replaced with regexes at one point for compatibility.
- I'll try to set up a Wedge namespace, so that I can (finally) safely use simpler function names without risk of any clashes.

For the anecdote, I wrote a closure in an array_map call just minutes ago -- but removed it, because I figured out a much faster solution.

$in_lists = array_combine(array_keys($temp['lists']), array_fill(0, count($temp['lists']), $id_member));
Versus:

$in_lists = array_map(function () use ($id_member) { return $id_member; }, $temp['lists']);
It may be slower, but isn't it beautiful? :P
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Auk on December 23rd, 2013, 01:10 PM
Whoever can not use php 5.3.4+ should be getting a new host.
Quote
5.2 is the current version required by Wedge. PHP 5.2 is great.
^--- I don't find it great. For $reasons.
It should be 5.3. If I were in charge, I would rather this minimal requirement be set to php 5.4

Edit: @Nao, why yew WampServer?!
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on December 23rd, 2013, 04:07 PM
Minimal requirement of 5.4 is a bit overkill, actually. The only 'nice' feature in 5.4 is that they now allow for the JavaScript array notation, i.e. $a = [1, 2, 3];
So this saves code, but you know what..? With Wedge's PHP caching, I can perfectly do it 'à la Wess', use array shortcuts, and then at cache time, replace any 5.4-arrays with 5.3-arrays. That sounds silly, but it's quite easy to do with my current codebase.

While 5.3 had two features that I wanted to use, and that are hard to 'emulate'[1]: closures and namespaces. However, it's not the panacea I thought it was...

- Namespaces are actually quite useless in a SMF codebase, AFAICT. Add 'namespace Wedge' to the top of index.php... Run it. It crashes. To be clear, any functions defined inside index.php are prefixed with Wedge\, and need to be called that way (such as Wedge\loadSource(...)) when called OUTSIDE of the Wedge namespace. That's fine by me... Except for something I didn't know before: if you include/require a file, it will NOT inherit the current namespace. So, the 'solution' is not only to include a namespace Wedge at the top of ALL files that Wedge uses, but also hardcode the Wedge\ prefix into any callback strings, and other things like that. That seems awfully overkill for the use I wanted to do of it (i.e. simplify a few function names while not risking name collisions with other libraries or the main website.)
In the end, I don't think I'll be using that, then. But the good news is, now you can use Laravel next to Wedge, or something... :P

- Closures ARE the panacea for me, for sure, but I've made a few benchmarks, and didn't notice any difference with creation_function(), even though it's supposed to be about 10 times faster. Not a big deal, though -- I spent years complaining that I couldn't use closures, I'm happy enough that I can use them now...! I've already rewritten Profile-Modify.php, it saves 500 bytes of escaped quotes (!!), much easier to debug, and at last code inside these functions is easily findable through a grep.

But PHP 5.4...? I'll probably use array shortcuts, for sure. I'll just backport them to PHP 5.3, and everyone will be happy.
Posted: December 23rd, 2013, 04:04 PM

(Oh, and also: getting rid of create_function() and generally any evals will also make my PHP minifier safer to use.)
 1. Technically, a closure can be emulated pre-5.3, by detecting any function assignments (basically, anything 'function(' that isn't preceded by a bracket or things like that), and then turning the result into an escaped string inside a create_function(). Still, it requires properly handling use() keywords, I don't know if that can be done, AND, let's be clear: upgrading to PHP 5.3 is not ONLY about getting new features, it's also about making some things easier, e.g. PCRE 7.2 is required in Wedge, but up until PHP 5.3, a host could disable PCRE, so that was a problem for me.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on December 23rd, 2013, 05:19 PM
@Auk is there a problem with WampServer..?
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Suki on December 30th, 2013, 02:20 AM
Yeah, 5.3 seems like a perfect choice.

Closures can be used in ways regular anonymous functions can't but it requires a full oop approach for that to happen. The whole new array syntax was just a late response at all the bickering from guys who keep pushing for PHP to become more like python or ruby or any other cool new programming language not based on C principles. It really is just a cosmetic thing that shouldn't have to receive soo much publicity.  I would rather see more useful stuff.

5.4 also has object binding in closures which can be really useful when you work with properties who also are closures themselves (since PHP can't distinguish between a closure property and a plain method) or just when you want to inject some external behavior to some class without messing with it or if you for some reason don't like to use the use() keyword :P
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on December 30th, 2013, 02:50 PM
TBH, I'm not 'familiar' enough with PHP's OOP to be able to tell what a closure is, compared to a lambda function. Closure means so much in different areas (to me, it's Google's equivalent of Packer or UglifyJS, for instance...), I just consider the word 'closure' to mean 'self-enclosed function', and that's it. As for OOP, I know the basics (static vs dynamic, private vs protected vs public, singleton vs real class), but I have no reason to explore it further. I could even have converted more callbacks into lambdas, as I found online benchmarks that said lambdas were 10 times faster than create_function and a bit faster than named functions, but from what I could gather with my own benchmarks, it's actually slower than create_function by a few percents, and much slower than named functions. Why? I don't know... All I know is, if it's only used a couple of times at most in the page flow, I'll put my eggs into a lambda function. If I'm adamant about getting the best performance, then I'll go for a named function. create_function() can go entirely though (I think I've removed them all), because the performance makes no difference, and there's no reason to live with the joke that is an eval with escaped quotes.

5.4's array system is something that bothers me right now. My first thought was, "I want that for PHP", because it's how it's done in JS, and I love JS. However, after converting a few calls, I realized it was probably a bit over-hyped. I can live with doing wetem::add(array('my_layer', 'sidebar', ''), 'my_block') instead of wetem::add(['my_layer', 'sidebar', ''], 'my_block'), I suppose. I may revisit that later, especially if I can get my PHP cache to work flawlessly, but for now... I'll postpone it for later.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: MrCat on February 1st, 2014, 09:58 PM
It's easy to say "get a new host if they don't have 5.3" but that's not practical.
I've been with the same host for years, and I'm happy with them - just that they 'happen' to still have 5.2

Will Wedge not function properly on 5.2?
Is it still worth installing the alpha version?

Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on February 1st, 2014, 10:29 PM
Well, the poll is long over now. The results said I should go for 5.4. I chose 5.3 because it's supported by a more realistic number of hosts.
However 5.3 is not even supported anymore. Let alone 5.2...

Yes it was a hard decision to make. Hence the poll. You could make Wedge work on 5.2 by either using an older commit from github that's 5.2 only, or modifying the current version to revert the 5.3 changes. It'll take you at least a day of work if you're a dev, and it won't be easy for you to update to the new versions.

Drop an email to your host and ask them why they're only offering a version of php that hasn't been patched in 5 or 6 years...
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Bunstonious on February 1st, 2014, 10:46 PM
I would have chosen 5.5 if I were an option.

Bleeding edge or go home ;) jks

I roll my own Ubuntu server in Australia (straya)
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on February 1st, 2014, 11:31 PM
I've got access to 5.3 only for now for wedge.org, although I know if I took a separate account on the same host (or if I discussed it with my hosting account owner), I could have 5.4 and 5.5. So, for now, it's 5.3 only for me, but only because Wedge is kindly hosted for free by the aforementioned third-party. ;)

(I'm just sad that this server has been doing great for years, and right when I'm going public, it's starting to show signs of fatigue... -_-)
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: MultiformeIngegno on February 2nd, 2014, 02:37 AM
I think users running outdated versions oh php don't care about users security and shouldn't deserve wedge. I voted for 5.4 and I'm running 5.5.8..
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Bunstonious on February 2nd, 2014, 08:24 AM
Quote from MultiformeIngegno on February 2nd, 2014, 02:37 AM
I think users running outdated versions oh php don't care about users security and shouldn't deserve wedge. I voted for 5.4 and I'm running 5.5.8..
Agreed, security is important these days. People forget how much we have on the internet.

It may only be a small forum but most likely people use the same email and passwords for important sites.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on February 2nd, 2014, 12:42 PM
It shouldn't matter that they use the same credentials; stored hashes won't be the same, even on the same software across different installs, because of the extra salt that's added to them. Still, if black hats steal your credentials in a more devious way (such as keylogging), you can't do anything about it, but AFAIK the forum software itself can't be hacked into submission to steal passwords, if anything because password inputs don't allow keylogging from JavaScript events. (They don't... Do they??)

No, the official reason I went for 5.3 is because of security yes. Basically, if your server has 5.2 or less, chances are it hasn't been updated in years, and then it means your Linux server might also be an older version, and Linux vulnerabilities are regularly found and patched; which is also why I prefer to rely on someone hosting my websites rather than having to myself deal with keeping the LAMP software up to date and secure. To me, it's a full-time job.

The non-official reason, of course, is that I wanted to play with lambda functions (and what fun they are!), and wanted to be done with pre-5.3 problems. It's also about comfort for me. In the last SMF patch, there's a whole block of code with complicated regex functions (include one with a nice typo in its name... Serious work, bravissimo), and a mention that this crap should be removed once SMF is made 5.3+ only.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Bunstonious on February 2nd, 2014, 01:32 PM
Makes sense, I try and keep my server up to date, but I admit it's not the first thing I do each morning.

Which reminds me... brb...
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: MultiformeIngegno on February 2nd, 2014, 01:46 PM
Quote from Bunstonious on February 2nd, 2014, 01:32 PM
Makes sense, I try and keep my server up to date, but I admit it's not the first thing I do each morning.

Which reminds me... brb...
There's difference between not checking every morning and having an environment 7 years old (php 5.2).
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Bunstonious on February 2nd, 2014, 01:47 PM
lol, I know that's what I was getting at.

Seriously though, I try to update every few months, only had MySQL tonight.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: MrCat on February 3rd, 2014, 07:34 PM
Just got in touch with my host and this is what they said:
"Thank you for contacting us! We're able to install 5.3.21 PHP version for anyone of your domains. Just let us know domain names and we'll be glad to proceed with that."

It's not default and has to be enabled? Just for specific domains? Is this odd?

How was I supposed to know that...
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: MultiformeIngegno on February 3rd, 2014, 07:41 PM
hosts can have different environments.. they can have a check or a list that says X hostings are on php A, others on B..
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: MrCat on February 3rd, 2014, 09:13 PM
Thanks MultiformeIngegno, I wasn't aware of that.
I guess some customers don't want to automatically upgrade because their sites might break.
Title: Re: Minimum PHP version?
Post by: Nao on February 3rd, 2014, 11:47 PM
(Then it leaves us with only TE in the PHP < 5.3 list..? Thorsten, can you elaborate..?)

That's the thing with PHP: some (not all!) changes may be backwards-incompatible. For instance, SMF 2.0.7 is a (pretty underwhelming) patch to mostly improve PHP 5.5 support because the 'e' modifier in PCRE was deprecated, and SMF relied heavily on that. Wedge was patched to the same effect about six months ago (by the same person, I suspect :P). Without these patches, the software would still work, but you'd be getting warnings all over your page. Not cool.

Unfortunately, the reverse is also true... If you try using new PHP features, older versions will give you errors (which isn't a problem for Wedge, except *before* the install process begins, as I painfully noticed today.)

So, basically, whenever you're using software that hasn't been updated in a while (they don't always need to), you're better off staying on your current PHP. All hosts use different ways of allowing users to upgrade; some will force it on them (good luck for old software), and I'm fine with that but I understand it'd be upsetting for those. Some will provide a setting in their panel to choose your default PHP. And some will only enable it if you contact their support team.

So, no worries, it's all good.
That's the whole idea. Wedge forces users to upgrade their PHP to newer, safer versions. If you can update to PHP 5.5, then be my guest. I do all of my local testing on PHP 5.5 these days, so Wedge is fully compatible between PHP 5.3 and 5.5. (5.6 alpha was released recently, and it doesn't break any compatibility in Wedge, so you can add that to the list.)