Thanks to all who responded to this - you've given me a lot to think about. In the near term, I'm going to learn to do PDO calls and convert a few small projects over to that system. In the long-term, taking this as an opportunity to switch to a CMS for the main website might make sense, so I'll start exploring those ideas again too. And/or, I may take TK up on the idea of giving it all up an opening a coffee shop instead...

Many thanks -- I 'm glad to have such a robust community of experienced co-conspirators.

Ken

>>> On Wednesday, April 29, 2015, Ken Irwin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>>  Hello all,
>>>>
>>>> I've just learned that the PHP mysql_* functions are all deprecated 
>>>> as of PHP 5.5, and I'm trying to figure out what this means for my 
>>>> life. My library's website is heavily database-driven, hand-coded, 
>>>> and all written using the mysql_* functions. It's currently running 
>>>> PHP 5.4, so presumably code all needs to be updated before the next 
>>>> server upgrade.
>>>>
>>>> So I'm looking for a little advice:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 1.       Is there a general consensus on what the best long-term
>>>> alternative to the mysql_* functions is? I see a bunch of 
>>>> references to the PDO extension, which is available on our server. 
>>>> Is that The Answer, or should I be looking other places as well.
>>>>
>>>> 2.       Does anyone have advice about how to proceed with an enormous
>>>> overhaul like this? I'm sure I'll be working on a development copy 
>>>> of the server until everything is all worked out. But beyond that, 
>>>> advice would be welcome. Have you employed students to do work like 
>>>> this?
>>>>
>>>> 3.       I wonder what other broad-sweeping old-fashionednesses may also
>>>> be about to rear up and bite me. If you imagine that I learned 
>>>> procedural (almost never object-oriented) PHP 4 in about 2000 and 
>>>> am slow to change my ways, can you predict what sort of deprecated 
>>>> foolishness I might still be perpetrating?
>>>>
>>>> Any advice, input, or experience would be appreciated!
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>> Ken
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>