Which package of php-xml to install?

Question

I am working with with PHP 5.2.9 on a Linux server (RedHat EL 4). PHP was configured with --disable-dom so php-xml is not on there, and I need to put it on there (mainly because PHPUnit needs it).

The page here says that you can just install the appropriate php-xml package, edit some config files, and restart apache to get it working. But I am not on Fedora 10--I am on RedHat EL 4--so I am having trouble trying to determine which package would be the safest to install. I do not see a "php-xml-5.2.9" when searching http://rpm.pbone.net, but I do see quite a few versions in the 5.2.x series of php-xml.

We were about to attempt to install the 5.2.17 version, but it is complaining about conflicts with other dependencies. So then we thought about force installing it just to see what happens. Would that be difficult to roll back? Is this a bad idea?

(The main issue I am trying to resolve is that PHPUnit is unable to find the DOMDocument class. Supposedly the solution is to install php-xml.)

Answer 1

It is recommended to install your packages without breaking dependencies. Otherwise, you may face troubles later when different versions of packages are installed. Removing an installed package may not be an easy task especially if it will break other depending packages.

The problem is that not all packages are always backward-compatible. APIs are changing most of the time.

I suggest to find the suitable package(s). If not, try to install them from source.