Updating php version on windows with apache

Question

I wonder what I should be carefull of updating PHP on Windows(with Apache). My current version is 5.2.9-2

My php folder is simply under C:\php

If I simply download and unzip the new version, 5.3, which is a little more significant than going from 5.2.8 to 5.2.9, I'm thinking I need to be carefull not to overwrite some files.

I'm thinking 5.3 will have some changes in the .ini file. My .ini file allready has some modules activated and such, but if I leave the old .ini file, I might have some incompatibilities.

So, what incompatibilities and other risk do I need to look out for? I don't have any experience updating this, and I fear I might loose things and will just end up having to delete and make a clean install and then edit everything again, which is painfull.

Answer 1

Don't do it on a live environment until you've tested.

Php 5.3 contains enough changes/new stuff that i would be wary of either issues with the server config, as you've suggested, but also enough that I'd want to test my app to check it still worked correctly under 5.3 as well.