Manual:32-bit

Known issues

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Known issues with 32-bit PHP:

  • large values in 'bigint' fields in the databases, such as row IDs for very large sites, will fail to be interpreted correctly.
    • This can affect folks importing Wikipedia databases to local installations.
  • uploaded files larger than 4 gigabytes are not possible
  • available memory usage may be limited
  • Dates in StructuredDiscussions are wrong, displaying "47 years ago" everywhere (task T109528).
  • DiscussionTools has problems as of MediaWiki 1.41.0, see task T360764.

Is it safe to ignore?

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As of 2017, if you're running a small or modestly-sized site and not importing any data from Wikipedia, you may not actually encounter any problems from using a 32-bit PHP and it will probably work.

However be aware that at some point this may change, and 64-bit servers may be required in future.

How to fix it

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  • If your CPU is 32-bit, you're stuck with 32-bit PHP.
  • If your CPU is 64-bit but your operating system is 32-bit, you must update to a 64-bit operating system.
  • If your operating system is 64-bit but your PHP is 32-bit (this is most common on Windows), you may need an alternate PHP installer. If there is a separate 64-bit installer where you got your PHP, choose that.