The web is constantly changing and keeping applications on servers which can support them may be difficult, as hosting companies upgrade the servers to improve security, the applications may fail.

Most web companies are extremely careful and use strategies such as running PHP 5 through php5 extenstions, and leaving PHP 4 as the default, but there does come a time when the server has be upgraded. In addition, it is the responsibility of the application installer to ensure the application is maintained for security and performance.

This creates an excellent business opportunity for web companies, especially for powerful applications with complex hosting requirements, such as eZ publish. The key is careful identification and management of the opportunities.

Once identified, one must look at the site to try to assess the quality of work. Upgrades can be difficult, so the offer to upgrade an eZ installation should be made carefully - so all parties understand the risks and estimated costs.

Bear in mind if the application is running from a subdirectory, this strategy may not work. That’s okay, there are lots of other sites. :)

This approach will work for any application that provides identification information in a publicly accessible area (either the headers or the HTML). It is especially valuable for applications with steep learning curves.

Use curl or wget to get the site headers or HTML.