We are using Zend Framework and in version 2, php 5.2 will be the minimum requirement. We love CentOS and we'd like to keep using it, but PHP 5.1 just won't do anymore when developing web applications with Zend framework.

I found several links to solutions to upgrade with external repositories.

http://serverfault.com/questions/106801/recommended-method-to-upgrade-php-5-1-6-to-5-2-x-on-centos-5

http://www.webtatic.com/blog/2009/05/installing-php-526-on-centos-5/

http://www.webtatic.com/blog/2009/06/php-530-on-centos-5/

We'd like to see another solution with the use of an "official?" CentOS repository if any is available.

We only need to upgrade PHP, the rest of the CentOS setup is fine the way it is. For us, it's important however to keep the YUM cycle intact using the normal repositories.

So in short: is it even possible to upgrade only PHP by using an external repo or otherwise? While still upgrading all our other packages safely through normal yum usage?

Thanks for your help!