When PHP 4 and PHP5 are both enabled and served using the CGI, DSO, or SUPHP configurations, the Cpanel interface will contain a selector for setting the version of PHP that will act as the default for the account. The version of PHP selected will process .php files for all domains assigned to the account.
The interface is available on the X3 theme under Software/Services -> PHP Configuration. Available settings are PHP4, PHP5, and System Default. The chosen value is reflected in the .htaccess file in the user's home directory. If the user requires that file extensions other than .php are processed by the selected version of PHP, add those file extensions after .php to the AddHandler line in the .htaccess file.
The administrator has a command line tool available for managing these settings called update_php_mime_types. It is located in the /usr/local/cpanel/bin/ directory. Run the following command for detailed information on how this tool works:
/usr/local/cpanel/bin/update_php_mime_types -man
The update_php_mime_types script is run automatically as part of the EasyApache 3 installation process. It will update or remove PHP AddHandler directives in .htaccess files down to three levels deep within users home directories. To prevent this update from occurring, create a file named "/var/cpanel/easy_skip_update_php_mime_types".
NAME
update_php_mime_types - Update user level PHP-MIME mappings
-help
Brief help message
-man
Full documentation
-recurse=#
Recurse depth for finding .htaccess files
-strip
Remove all PHP AddHandler directives
-user=
Only check the specified user
-force=<4|5>
Force the PHP version to the one specified
-directory=
Force the PHP version in this directory
-verbose
Display actions as they are performed