Notice 9/13/16: This deprecation schedule is no longer valid. Please see the updated schedule in the new post: Updated EasyApache 3 Deprecation Schedule. The below post is retained solely for historical accuracy. 

EasyApache 3 has served us well for the past 10 years, but it’s almost time for us to say goodbye. While EasyApache3 did its job, and did it for a long time, there were many improvements that we wanted to make. The biggest external complaint was that EasyApache 3 took between 20 – 30 minutes just to add a PHP or Apache module. That’s CRAZY! Internally, we struggled with maintenance as there is a lot of code in EasyApache3 (around half a million lines).

For the past two years, we’ve been working on our new web stack, EasyApache 4. EasyApache 4 offers the benefit of using RPMs to speed up both customization and the time spent building, as well as other asked-for features like the ability to use multiple versions of PHP. We believe that EasyApache 4 provides a wealth of great features and improved functionality, and we strongly encourage you to check it out if you haven’t already. We’re enormously excited about the work that’s gone into it, and think you will be too. 

Here’s the tentative schedule:

  • v58 – EasyApache 3 and EasyApache 4.
    • With the release of cPanel & WHM version 58, EasyApache 4 will be the default web stack on fresh installations. EasyApache 4 offers full parity with EasyApache 3, with improved install and configuration times. You’ll still be able to use EasyApache 3 if you prefer, with a bit of extra configuration first.
  • v60 – EasyApache 3 deprecated.
    • The last version of cPanel & WHM to support EasyApache 3 will be version 60, currently planned for September 2016. Once version 60 goes End of Life in September 2017, EasyApache 3 will receive no further updates, and will be fully deprecated.
  • v62 – EasyApache 3 fully removed.
    • If you are running EasyApache 3, you will be blocked from upgrading to v62 of cPanel & WHM.

EasyApache 3 has had a good run, but EasyApache 4 is the future. Last week’s post from our Community Manger gives you a good place to start, if you’re brand new to EasyApache 4. If you have any questions, find me on Twitter, or on IRC (Perk on freenode)

Photo Credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/holiday-animal-cute-travel-34297/ – CC0 1.0 License