AaronPB wrote:1 - how to make absolutely sure of the version of PHP I currently have
phpinfo()
AaronPB wrote:2 - how to go from PHP 5.3 to PHP 5.2.9 safely.
How did your xampp get updated? There is no upgrade script from v1.7.1 (last with PHP 5.2.9) to v1.7.2 (first with PHP 5.3.0)
A safe way is to:
- make backups of all your data (databases, scripts, config-files, the whole xampp folder). It's better to be safe than sorry!
- uninstall the current xampp
- install the xampp you wish (e.g.: xampp 1.7.1 with php 5.2.9)
- import your scripts to the right place
- import your databases (be careful with downgrades of mysql versions! just copy the data folder can be enough, but this is not the safe way. better to import the data with a tool which can handle both mysql-versions)
to be safe, first try this on a test system