techniQal support

As I noted in my last post, I recently took the hard and dirty path of trying to upgrade php and mysql on my web server.
This was driven by my need to have PHP 5.13 and support for SimpleXMLElement->addChild() .
Unfortunately, support ended on the standard repo’s for FC4 some time ago. This meant that I would have to download and recompile if I wanted to have an upgrade path for php. I don’t have that kind of energy.
Luckily I was able to use some google-fu, and find a solution.
This site Les RPM de Remi, albeit in french, provides an awesome repo, and compatibility updates for RHEL 4 and 5, FC 3,4,5,6 and more.
This means I had a nice easy path to upgrading php and mysql.
See the details below to see how easy it was to update mysql 4 to mysql 5, and php 5.04 to php 5.25 .

To utilize for FC 4, follow these instructions:

1 . Install the remi rpm .
wget http://remi.collet.free.fr/rpms/remi-release-4.rpm

rpm -Uvh remi-release-4.rpm

2. Install the remi yum repository.
cd /etc/yum.repos.d
wget http://remi.collet.free.fr/rpms/remi-fedora.repo

3. Update - Update - Update
This should find all dependencies and include them.
I suggest doing mysql first, as php update may fail if you don’t.

yum --enablerepo=remi update mysql
yum --enablerepo=remi update php


So far everything worked flawlessly for me.
But YMMV. Backup your databases.
Be prepared to re-install your OS, or be smart enough to undo what you are doing.
Use caution, and enjoy.