a user called cshaiku offered me exactly the same 
Thatās not you by any chance?
I chatted with him and looked around, he said that the likely cause is that php 8 breaks some things and that i needed a older php version, probably 5.6. however i am not finding a way to install it. if you still want to help iād be thankful!
EDIT: Then just shoot me a personal message. i can provide my discord or we can try a zoom.
The only safe way to run PHP 5 at this point is on CentOS/RHEL 7. You wonāt find packages for Alma 9. PHP 5 has been EOL for years, and is completely unmaintained upstream. The RHEL developers maintain (by some definition of āmaintainā) PHP 5 packages because thatās that version of PHP that shipped with the OS, and they commit to maintaining all the packages in the OS for the life of the OS (thatās the value proposition of the āEnterprise Linuxā model).
If you really need PHP 5, youāre gonna be in pretty serious trouble in 2024 when the last safe way to run PHP 5 reaches EOL. You need to solve that problem pretty urgently.
But also, PHP 5 has nothing to do with the error from the log.
I donāt know why everyone is ignoring the actual problem in this thread and inventing new problems to try to solve, but they areā¦you probably should not go along with them if you want to solve your problem.
You have an error. It has nothing to do with databases, it has nothing to do with PHP versions (though you may have a PHP version problem!).
You have something wrong that is making the web server believe it canāt serve your index.php file.
So, check the php error log, check the permissions and ownership of your files in public_html (they must be owned by the domain owner user, and they must not be writable by other users), check to be sure you donāt have redirects or proxy rules in your .htaccess that means youāre actually trying to run something else.
@borgqueenx yap not me - I am boldy old folk - debian biased 
you would know it by now if we spoke. Also I do use zoom and google meet with cam daily and I am very confi to speak with people in person - here - I will take pinch of salt as everyone else. Well my offer is still standing - I am in UK time so we can do it tomorrowā¦ as even Joe said do your basic checks but I believe its issue with apache config + or htaccess. issueā¦ I am not cshaiku and, I will never offer help with unsolicited dm pm :or emailā¦ end of the day I have no issue on my server right?
Edit: correcting spelling issues as English is not first language of mine and I do speak other 5
Edit 2: I do have telegram, signal, email and sluckā¦ and I use git issues and forums to chatā¦ nothing else. I do not approach person via dms, pms or anything else.
When I seen his log he passed here - the few lines - I had same issue going from debian 7 to debian 10ā¦ in my case it was apache config and htaccess file as those changed a bit when 2.2 was replaced with 2.4. Anyhow 5.xxx php should not be used those days, but if the OP wish to keep it, they should be able to run it safely under newer versions of php unless there is some very crap coded code. In mean time I believe his code and site can work at this time.
it is not a problem to me, if i see things are getting bad with it, i can lock it down into read-only mode pretty easily. It is more of a archive nowadays as both websites are no longer in use, but still good to have memoryās of, and can use them together with their domain to share files online without annoying ads or waiting lines to download files for those users.
These websites are -maybe- getting 5 unique visitors (that are not bots) per month.
My goal is to get them working on the new server in the current state, because updating the software is no longer supported either. So itās kind of choosing between nothing, or something.
EDIT: Technically, the software could probably be upgraded. one software is Xenforo, the other is e107. However, they are also using plugins and data from very old times, so updating them is probably a nightmare with lots of incompatible or EOL add-ons.
itās just a co-incidence that i got offered help with a call today from a kind reddit user as well, who believed it was the php version. He could be wrong however. i checked the old server where the sites is working, and it reports php version 7.0. I installed 7.3 on my new server, and switched to it in webmin, but unfortunately did not help. So maybe you are right that it is something else. However I donāt know if there are multiple php versions running on that server. i still have access to the old server (but sites no longer working for some config change somewhere).
I am very grateful for your offer to check things out and iāl happily take it! If you can make it working i can also buy you a beer or two!
The newer site, that has software of like 6 years old, is called Xenforo, definitely not considered crap code, at least not back then. The other site thatās like 15 years old is called e107.
Closing the barn door after all the horses have run away sounds like an excellent plan.
what can go wrong, a spambot investation, or something hijacking php for other malicious intent? then i can restore a backup and make it read-only.
EDIT: They are not sites with sensitive data. One is a game project i used to develop when i was like 16 years old, and the other is a community page for a game i played with friends i made online. And due to visitor count, i highly doubt there is much interest in hijacking it. If there is to use the php code for sending spam mails, or whatever, then i will simply make the site read-only. I would say it is worth the risk(?) in my case.
oh its xenforo yes I know it, back in a days I did pay for license and edit the installers php to allow installs without licence - that was back in 2009s then I stopped.
I would never do this again, due to my age and partly their code is not worth - their code is just - I mean its below my dignity to even write hack and then patch it all the times. I was making good money to do the stuff like that back in a days and then patching it with each update released.
So its xenforo? - do you have access to working sites? I can help you to archive the sites - end user would not know its html site unless they use search form but you can still place announcement on site that those forums are dead. Google seo will be intact and site will become .html. Let me know. In any case xenforo would be mess to reviveā¦ no hours worth for free even its own company creator would not help youā¦
Edit: no spam bots, remember archived site is just static site .html files - text files - no db need it - no login - no issues.
Edit 2: worth of risk? if you did run xenforo on whatever server - yes its more worth to use some open source update version of forums like xenforo one - yes take a look at a virtualmin as an example - old siteā¦ I do not know where I can start or what to sayā¦ take it with pinch of salt. If your old forums still makes you money via goole adds safe them and archive them - if not, archive them and safe them on dvd or something for sentimental value and loose them as 14 years ago was different age and time even for virtualmin it selfā¦ I remember ugly theme (which I loved) but today - if you showed me cp with old virtualmin theme - i would send you to the rabbit hole poo pipe and wouldnāt even be bothered to talk about it single time. Thats how much times changed. Please give up for those unsafe sites even running with locked out mode - if its html only it would be safe otherwise - it would not be safe at all.
Edit 3: I am sorry to say that but from webdev information I have from you - you are wasting your time brutally. I can still give you command for wget to clone your site to convert it to html but you would need proper domainā¦ not local host etc.
Edit 4: I think only xenforo sales could help you as their code become like windows 11 or 12ā¦ we here I mean no one would be able to help you hereā¦ I am one of the last dead folks here offering help with odd issues meeting nasty other folks - not you! (I did find a way how to remove them from forums without any help of staff or etc its end user coding not running on servers but rather in browser, I do not see them, not receiving anything from them etcā¦but those people driven me a nuts and back then I was very ugly here on this open source forum without even realising it - which was my very bad and I sadly and deeply regret till this day) anyway Im still here, helping with odd issues. If you still want we can chat over video chat together to save your dead site - just dm or pm me or make yourself known to me. I will see what I could do for you.
the website is no longer working on the old host, but i have all the files on there together with the correct old software, i dont know what config failed that caused websites to no longer working, it is something small, but maybe can be found out whatās stuck in there. Itās a sad thought to have to permanently convert them into html. at least with a read-only mode i can sometimes unlock, login, and post a article, if i ever feel the need. It really depresses me a bit right now, actually, because it holds very nice memoryās for me and friends. It is a little part of myself, a long history of online gaming and coding.
I can try to put back backups i made of the full VPS and point the domains back to the old host if needed, see if the websites then work again for creating html backups/clones.
I should add that my 15 year old website never gave me issues after i made it read-only. itās been like that for a long, long time now. But if you all feel it is dangerous(have some examples what could go wrong?) then i guess i should do that, even if they are sites that are not visitted by pretty much anyone.
i will send you a dm with some contact data, thank you for the assistance.
EDIT: Always thought that making a site read only by simply chmodding everything to not write permission, would make something secureā¦I guess thats a wrong thought then?
I do remember this exactly conversation when I was speaking with Linus about git development and svn - old good days! I did not seen what he was saying - today I do embrace it behind my dead. - I do understand your loss speaking honestly but sometimes its great to move on and grow.
Nopeā¦ there is a way to alway access the data in dbā¦ if html - it would be just text files no possible way to access data from even read dbā¦ read = accessing data - not need to modify but able to sellā¦ - you understand me I guess.
but then what can the attacker get? some email addresses from some random gamersā¦passwords are encrypted right? and even if not, i hope they would not copy their passwords everywhere.
well - email can be used decades - personal id - agree?
passwords encrypted 14 years ago (with tech which was proved to be crackable - its like plain textā¦)
I am sorry to tell youā¦ its like you think you are elon scumbag musk xspace rocket - which is failing to launch in todays date when nasa did it successfully in 60sā¦what possibly could changed? date and time?
the hope is fine with you but perhaps think as hacker - is your hope would help anyone on 14 years old dbs, 14 years old encryption protocols not to mention read only php? - is it really read only? - I am no way to put you down, I am only saying - its not safe even if the site is read only from my stand of point as web dev.
the question is if a hacker would be bothered for the max 100 accounts on there and getting their emails and passwords. but yeah, maybe a easy copy-paste exploit gets developed and can be used then.
I am a bit torn to be honest between going into a read-only html copy or making both sites read-only. Mostly due to emotional attachment. Weāl talk in private then i suppose about what can be done.
back in a days (2000 - 2009) I wrote nullers for xenforo installers - it was easy honestly and openly speaking - which supposed to be safest install back then - I know its been some decade ago but what makes you think that your decade old install is safe even if you put it on lock down regarding dbs? Do you know your dbs are safe in the mode youre setting up? today or decades ago? - read only means I can access all data just cannot modify itā¦ that is why it calls read onlyā¦ so can get all details as need itā¦ 14 years ago or now - no difference.
maybe it is possible to wipe all passwords from the database, then the only thing remaining are the mail addresses which isnāt a gigantic security concern. at least hoping that would not break the site. logging in for other users except me isnt needed anymore.
But first we need to see then if the site is salvagable anyway.
@borgqueenx of course - but non of your old patrons would be able to make changes hence why not go full html archiveā¦ just make me wonderā¦ site will be there, no google seo affected, site will work faster then sql and there will be no db to even read - whats the point to even discuss this option? please you tell me as I am struggling to see any other points and I understand your sentimental value - been there had to destroy forums with 3 mill people. Its very hard.
thank you for your dm. I will call you tomorrow at 11am of UK time. If not suitable, just let me know prior my call - you will have my contact details in app. Thank you.
I think this topic can be closed once we speak tomorrow - I leave this up to you - db not to mention as they are easy to fix but main issue is apache and php - I would absolutely advice you against to run this as in lock down mode - its not safe. If anyone in this forums can approche you with better solution it would be @Ilia - who have knowhow and he is skilled hacker himself - otherwise be vigilante here and take readings of centimeters 60 times before you do one cut. I will speak to you tomorrow. Lets end this forum endless treat and give you some solution so this can be closed once for all.
BW.
George.