What's the deal with Xampp versions?

[tektonic]

On the download page for the latest version of xmapp - there are several versions to choose from. But what's the point - what's the difference between them?

https://www.apachefriends.org/download.html

there is no information anywhere on how they differ - which is the best. Can anyone help me?

[Nobbie]

There is a very well information about the contents of the downloads, simply click on "What's included". Mostly only the PHP versions differ. These ARE the differences.

If you want to dig into deeper, proceed to php.net and read the versions info. Same for Apache, MariaDB etc., if there were different releases. But, as already said, mostly only the PHP version differs. For ease of use, Xampp has the same version number as the included PHP version.

[tektonic]

I downloaded the newest one - the one with the largest number. Although recently xampp has been having more and more problems - sql breaks and has to be repaired from a backup copy, or recently even the backup copy was damaged.

[Nobbie]

sql breaks and has to be repaired from a backup copy, or recently even the backup copy was damaged.

Yes, that is a well known problem in the Windows version. Its recommendes to start/stop MariaDB as a service, this mostly prevents MariaDB from crashing. Anyways, i dont like Windows and use Linux instead, there is no such problem with Xampp, everything runs smoothly. I wont return to Windows for many reasons.