Technical Requirements for Shack User Switching

Documentation for Joomla 3

For normal work of our Shack User Switching extension under Joomla 3, please check that your website satisfies the following technical requirements.

PHP Requirements

Our requirement is at least PHP 7.4. Click here to see more details on currently supported PHP versions or see the "Currently Supported Versions" diagram below.

Currently supported PHP versions

Any version of PHP before 7.2 doesn’t have security updates and will not keep your site safe.

As you can see from the diagram, any release of PHP lower than 7.2 is marked as "End of life". According to the PHP website, a PHP release marked as "End of life" is:

A release that is no longer supported. Users of this release should upgrade as soon as possible, as they may be exposed to unpatched security vulnerabilities.

The official Joomla recommendation is PHP 7.2 or higher. Click here to see Joomla's recommendations.

Database Requirement

MySQL: version 5.5.3 or newer.

Web Server Requirement

Apache: version 2.4 and newer.
Nginx: version 1.8 and newer.
Microsoft IIS: version 7 and newer.

Joomla Version Requirements

Joomlashack supports the latest version of Joomla 3, which is version 3.9.10.

What Version of PHP, Database, and Joomla Do I Have?

If you are not sure what version of PHP or Joomla your site is currently running, here's how you can find it out:

In your Joomla site, go to System > System Information:

System Information

Both your Joomla and PHP versions will be visible on this page:

System Information for Joomla 3 site

What Should I Do if My PHP Version is Below 7.2?

Copy-and-paste this text and send it to your hosting company:

I'm interested in running the Joomla web software and I was wondering if my account supports the following:

PHP 7.2.5 or greater

MySQL 5.5 or greater

The mod_rewrite Apache module

HTTPS support

Documentation for Joomla 5

For normal work of our Shack User Switching extension under Joomla 5, please check that your website satisfies the following technical requirements.

PHP Requirements

The requirement is at least PHP 7.4. PHP itself doesn't support any versions lower than 7.4. Click here to see more details on currently supported PHP versions or see the "Currently Supported Versions" diagram below.

Currently supported PHP versions

Any version of PHP before 7.3 doesn’t have security updates and will not keep your site safe.

As you can see from the diagram, any release of PHP lower than 7.3 is marked as "End of life". According to the PHP website, a PHP release marked as "End of life" is:

A release that is no longer supported. Users of this release should upgrade as soon as possible, as they may be exposed to unpatched security vulnerabilities.

The official recommendation for Joomla 5 is PHP 7.3 or higher. Click here to see Joomla's recommendations.