I wasn't sure where to post this...so please move it to the right place if it fits better elsewhere.

I'm fairly new to linux. I am enjoying learning about this OS. I'm running s8.1. Recently, I installed apache, mod_perl, mysql, and php rather smoothly. All current versions. My goal is not really to provide a service, I just would like to do everything I possibly can at least once with my system. I like to tinker.

I wanted to include phpbb2. However, there seems to be several issues with apache versions higher than 1.36 running phpbb2 (they suggest downgrading to this stable version btw).

I'm confused. My questions are: when a program runs on older versions only, at what point do the software makers admit it is not compatible on longer? Also, why would one choose to downgrade when it could cause serious security problems?

I hope this makes sense. Thanks for any input.

It is usually that the new versions are not compatiable with old libraries. ie - apache brought out apache2 but the developers that create additonal libraries have not had time to test/modify their libraries. For instance mod_perl still doesn't work with apache2. It isn't really the fault of the developers of phpBB2 - it is the fact that they themselves can only test it on new servers when they are released and so it takes some time to make them compatible.