How to downgrade php from 5.5 to 5.3

I did this in my local environment. Wasn't difficult but obviously it was done in "unsupported" way.

To do the downgrade you need just to download php 5.3 from http://php.net/releases/ (zip archive), than go to xampp folder and copy subfolder "php" to e.g. php5.5 (just for backup). Than remove content of the folder php and unzip content of zip archive downloaded from php.net. The next step is to adjust configuration (php.ini) - you can refer to your backed-up version from php 5.5. After that just run xampp control utility - everything should work (at least worked in my local environment). I didn't found any problem with such installation, although I didn't tested this too intensively.


It is possible! Yes

In many cases, you might want to use XAMPP with a different PHP version than the one that comes preinstalled. You might do this to get the benefits of a newer version of PHP, or to reproduce bugs using an earlier version of PHP.

To use a different version of PHP with XAMPP, follow these steps:

  1. Download a binary build of the PHP version that you wish to use from the PHP website, and extract the contents of the compressed archive file to your XAMPP installation directory (usually, C:\xampp). Ensure that you give it a different directory name to avoid overwriting the existing PHP version. For example, in this tutorial, we’ll call the new directory C:\xampp\php5-6-0. NOTE : Ensure that the PHP build you download matches the Apache build (VC9 or VC11) in your XAMPP platform.

  2. Within the new directory, rename the php.ini-development file to php.ini. If you prefer to use production settings, you could instead rename the php.ini-production file to php.ini.

  3. Edit the httpd-xampp.conf file in the apache\conf\extra\ subdirectory of your XAMPP installation directory. Within this file, search for all instances of the old PHP directory path and replace them with the path to the new PHP directory created in Step 1. In particular, be sure to change the lines

    LoadFile "/xampp/php/php5ts.dll"
    LoadFile "/xampp/php/libpq.dll"
    LoadModule php5_module "/xampp/php/php5apache2_4.dll"

to

    LoadFile "/xampp/php5-6-0/php5ts.dll"
    LoadFile "/xampp/php5-6-0/libpq.dll"
    LoadModule php5_module "/xampp/php5-6-0/php5apache2_4.dll"

NOTE : Remember to adjust the file and directory paths above to reflect valid paths on your system.

  1. Restart your Apache server through the XAMPP control panel for your changes to take effect. The new version of PHP should now be active. To verify this, browse to the URL http://localhost/xampp/phpinfo.php, which displays the output of the phpinfo() command, and check the version number at the top of the page.

Long answer: it is possible!

  1. Temporarily rename existing xampp folder
  2. Install xampp 1.7.7 into xampp folder name
  3. Folder containing just installed 1.7.7 distribution rename to different name and previously existing xampp folder rename back just to xampp.
  4. In xampp folder rename php and apache folders to different names (I propose php_prev and apache_prev) so you can after switch back to them by renaming them back.
  5. Copy apache and php folders from folder with xampp 1.7.7 into xampp directory

  6. In xampp directory comment line apache/conf/httpd.conf:458

    #Include "conf/extra/httpd-perl.conf"

  7. In xampp directory do next replaces in files:

php/pci.bat:15

from

"C:\xampp\php\.\php.exe" -f "\xampp\php\pci" -- %*

to

set XAMPPPHPDIR=C:\xampp\php "%XAMPPPHPDIR%\php.exe" -f "%XAMPPPHPDIR%\pci" -- %*

php/pciconf.bat:15

from

"C:\xampp\php\.\php.exe" -f "\xampp\php\pciconf" -- %*

to

set XAMPPPHPDIR=C:\xampp\php "%XAMPPPHPDIR%\.\php.exe" -f "%XAMPPPHPDIR%\pciconf" -- %*

php/pear.bat:33

from

IF "%PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN%"=="" SET "PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN=C:\xampp\php\.\php.exe"

to

IF "%PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN%"=="" SET "PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN=C:\xampp\php\php.exe"

php/peardev.bat:33

from

IF "%PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN%"=="" SET "PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN=C:\xampp\php\.\php.exe"

to

IF "%PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN%"=="" SET "PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN=C:\xampp\php\php.exe"

php/pecl.bat:32

from

IF "%PHP_PEAR_BIN_DIR%"=="" SET "PHP_PEAR_BIN_DIR=C:\xampp\php" IF "%PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN%"=="" SET "PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN=C:\xampp\php\.\php.exe"

to

IF "%PHP_PEAR_BIN_DIR%"=="" SET "PHP_PEAR_BIN_DIR=C:\xampp\php\" IF "%PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN%"=="" SET "PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN=C:\xampp\php\php.exe"

php/phar.phar.bat:1

from

%~dp0php.exe %~dp0pharcommand.phar %*

to

"%~dp0php.exe" "%~dp0pharcommand.phar" %*

Enjoy new XAMPP with PHP 5.3

Checked by myself in XAMPP 5.6.31, 7.0.15 & 7.1.1 with XAMPP Control Panel v3.2.2


Short answer is no.

XAMPP is normally built around a specific PHP version to ensure plugins and modules are all compatible and working correctly.

If your project specifically needs PHP 5.3 - the cleanest method is simply reinstalling an older version of XAMPP with PHP 5.3 packaged into it.

XAMPP 1.7.7 was their last update before moving off PHP 5.3.

Tags:

Php

Xampp

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