[php-maint] Multi version support for php

[Walter Kleynscheldt - Hetzner (Pty) Ltd]

Hi,

Can someone provide me with a reason why support for multi versions of
php isn't yet supported on Debian.
i.e. I'm running wheezy and I'd like to test the impact of upgrading all
my sites to php5.6.5 by installing it side-by-side to php5.4.4 (from a
backported package).
We've been manually creating packages for testing versions of php for a
while now and running it side-by-side the stable release,
but having to go through and updating the files in the package (trying
to get around the provides php conflicts etc) and changing paths to
include version numbers and linkages is a bit of a pain to do after
every release.

What would be really nice, is if php5.4.4 was installed as php544 (with
that set as the package name and paths appropriately),
because then packages for php5.6.5 could be php565 etc and be installed
to paths containing the version number and binaries or wrappers
symlinked to the selected default version via update-alternatives
(similar to ruby for example)?

I'm sure the complexity of the source package and the hassle of trying
to support backports would make this really hard,
but at least then it would make it easier for those wanting to create
their own backport packages to do so without jumping through hoops
inside the source package build to satisfy/circumvent dependencies.
Some clarity on policy/technical limitations or other would be greatly
appreciated.

thanks

-- 
Kind Regards

Walter Kleynscheldt
Platform Engineer
Hetzner (Pty) Ltd

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