PHP 7 (vB4)
 

For anyone interested in vB4 / PHP7.

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum...4-php7-testing

4.2.5 Alpha 1

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum...bulletin-4-2-5

+1 thanks Paul! (couldn't like so saying thanks!)

NICE!

Glad to see vb4 is still being worked on. Maybe we'll see version 4.3 some day :) (I would guess this would be the final release of PHP 7 compatibility, after the new update clears alpha & beta tests).

There wont ever be a 4.3.

Good news today.

I wanted to upgrade to PHP7 but because vB4 didn't support it so I have to wait this version

Hope to have stable version soon.

Thanks Paul and cheers,

Well it needs people to actually download and use the Alpha, otherwise any issues are not going to be found.

I've begun to play with the 4.2.5 Alpha 2 with PHP 7.0.8. So far, the only problem I've found is about the datastore. The problem is that vB_Datastore_Memcached uses the older "Memcache" [1] extension, which I believe has been dropped from PHP7, instead of the newer "Memcached" [2] (note the final d).

The API of both versions look similar, but are not identical (for instance, i noticed that the set and add methods no longer accept a $flag parameter).

Then, I tried to use the file cache. After getting the permissions of the datastore folder right, it seems to work. With opcache enabled, the filecache might be fast, but I'd rather like to keep Memcached support. Paul, can we expect a vB_Datastore implementation with the Memcached extension in a upcoming alpha? I could give it a try, but since I'm not familiar with vb internals i don't feel confident enough.

On a related note (although I'm not personally affected by that and I didn't test it), in the ACP datastore won't work in PHP7, but there's a very similar extension called ACPu [3] which drops opcode cache (since its available in bundled opcache) but keeps the variable store.

I'll keep testing other areas of the beta.

[1] http://php.net/manual/en/class.memcache.php
[2] http://php.net/manual/en/class.memcached.php
[3] http://php.net/manual/en/book.apcu.php


EDIT: Added this to jira (VBIV-16220) since I couldn't find it already.

You belief seems untrue. I have both Memcache & Memcached available to install for php 7.0, and in fact, only Memcache available for 7.1 atm.

Related, I have updated APC in Alpha 3 to use APCu, as that is still supported, while APC is not.

(APCu is basically just the key/data part of APC, as php 7 now uses a different opcode cache).

xCache is also not supported on php 7.

Right, sorry, looks like the package in ondrej's repository is php-memcache (I was expecting php7.0-memcache).

And yeah, mOo seems to have given up on xcache according to his lasts replies in the group (from a year ago): https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/xcache

Will do some testing now that I have everything working.

Really like this topic/update and thanks Paul for making vB4 a new level :up:

Of course I am waiting for a new server to test vB4 with PHP 7
I could not test it on my running forum, it can appear errors to visitors which i don't want if that happens.

Just want to know about memcached (datastore that vB4 is using), it (memcached) can run with php7? if no, what conditions to run vB4 with memcached on php7?

or do I need to remove datastore memcached when upgraded to php7?

To run memcached you need a server running memcache.
Pretty obviously really so I'm not sure whats unclear about it.

How you set that server up is down to you, all vb cares about is connecting to it.

Unless you have some specific reason for using it then just switch to APCu.
My test set-up is running the new opcache, and apcu, and running very nicely.

4.2.5 Beta 1 has been released today.

PHP 7.1 has been released. I just updated PHP on my server to PHP 7.1 and it seems to be running fine and a bit faster. TTFB went down by about 50-100ms.

There are some issues with 7.1, the full effect of them I'm not sure of yet.

One of them broke the display of sub forums on vB5, its likely to have effects on vB4 and vB3 as well, but very hard to spot in code as its not a syntax change, but a behaviour change in certain circumstances.

Developers have obvious reasons for upgrading test sites to the newest version of PHP.

People with lives sites can avoid a lot of problems by not rushing to upgrade.

That's good advice for almost everything.

The number of people who upgrade stuff on live sites within minutes of an update coming out, then wonder why stuff breaks, is astonishing.

Just leave it for a bit. The world won't end if you run php 7.0 a bit longer. Or even 5.6.

Hi

Where can I please the new version 4.2.5 alpha 2 test or download?

I can not find a downloadlink.

You want to go to the "Members Area" at vbulletin.com, and download vB 4.2.5 Beta 1. :)

I have my license here

Https://members.vbulletin-germany.com/

There I find no download 4.2.5

Only 4.2.3 level 2

They are not available on vB Germany, only the main site.

Is there no way to download the 4.2.5 Beta 1? Would like to test with me.

I'm afraid its not accessible on a German license atm.

If you are a member of the vb.com site, you can drop me a PM there.
If I can verify you are licensesd on VBG, I'll see what can be done (next week).

@Paul M

I wanted to write you to https://www.vbulletin.com a pn but that is not.

Errr, what ?

I can not write you on .com. I do not see a PN button in your profile.

Odd, other people seem to PM me ok.

Anyway, the VBG team have requested a copy of 4.2.5 Beta 2 when its released, so you should have access at that point.

(Its due in Mid February).

OK everything good. Thanks for the info.

It's available, but only in english so far - but still that is very very awesome!
Thanks :)

Which reminds me, I should give them Beta 3, which came out this week.

is the new 4.2.4 release supporting php7?

It is a good news Paul!

you are making vB a new level by supporting PHP7 and mariadb for vB4.

Just a small issue for me is I could not use it now because there are 2 addons on my forum could not run after moved to vB7 thus I have to use php 5.6 now.

I wanted to move my forum to a dedicated server to run with php7 and mariadb.

I PMed/reply to the authors of 2 those addons on vB to fix their codes to run with php7 but seem they left the forum and no responses.

is there a way to fix the mods I am using (it is just a small plugin), vB team can support fix some addons (available for downloading on this forum) to run with php7?

The only issues I experienced when moving to PHP 7.x were a few deprecation warnings, and replacing mysql() with mysqli(). These are generally easy to fix. If you can supply the exact error messages, I can perhaps point you in the right direction to fixing the issues. :)

Can you share how to fix it and what exactly is error?
I remembered i saw it in admincp but I turn off error reported in vb to hide it.

Thanks MarkFL in advance for this, I will PM you 2 addon links ( sorry I don't want to share them in public because it is better for secure)
If you can fix them, please support!

I handled them on a case by case basis. None of the errors came from any vB core files, those have been expertly updated to avoid any kind of deprecation warnings.

They only came from installed products that used deprecated PHP functions, and it involved editing the product plugins/external files.

I'll be glad to take a look tomorrow, as I have taken off my coder's hat for the night. :)

VBG now has the Beta 3 releases for 3.8.11 & 4.2.5.

Just a note for anyone not aware.

is the new 4.2.4 release supporting php 7?

No.

Does you leaving affect anything else besides PHP 7 changes/fixes for the older vBulletin versions?