Symfony multiple versions on the same environment

Follow under given steps for best way of running multiple versions of Symfony apps together on the one environment...

Step 1 - Un-install Symfony via PEAR
If you have Symfony installed via PEAR, get rid of it, it will only confuse you with what we are about to do.

express@express-dev:~$ sudo pear uninstall symfony/symfony
uninstall ok: channel://pear.symfony-project.com/symfony-1.1.0

Step 2 - Setup a structure for Symfony
In our case, I still want to install symfony in /usr/share/php/symfony, so lets set that up:

express@express-dev:~$ cd /usr/share/php
express@express-dev:/usr/share/php$ sudo mkdir symfony

Step 3 - Checkout each Symfony version you need
Now lets use SVN checkout to grab each Symfony version we are after, lets put these in a different folder under the base Symfony directory. Note: If you are behind a proxy, change your SVN settings first to go through your proxy. To change your proxy settings:

express@express-dev:/usr/share/php/symfony$ sudo nano /etc/subversion/servers

Now lets checkout each symfony version:
express@express-dev:/usr/share/php$ cd symfony/
express@express-dev:/usr/share/php/symfony$ sudo svn co http://svn.symfony-project.com/branches/1.0 symfony10
...
express@express-dev:/usr/share/php/symfony$ sudo svn co http://svn.symfony-project.com/branches/1.1 symfony11
...
express@express-dev:/usr/share/php/symfony$ sudo svn co http://svn.symfony-project.com/branches/1.2 symfony12
...

We now have created three installations of Symfony.

Step 4 - Create symbolic links for each version
The next step is for us to create symlinks for each version of Symfony. Lets place these in the standard bin directory:

sudo ln -s /usr/share/php/symfony/symfony10/data/bin/symfony /usr/bin/symfony10
sudo ln -s /usr/share/php/symfony/symfony11/data/bin/symfony /usr/bin/symfony11
sudo ln -s /usr/share/php/symfony/symfony12/data/bin/symfony /usr/bin/symfony12

Now lets test the sym links:

express@express-dev:~$ symfony10 -V
symfony version 1.0.19-PRE
express@express-dev:~$ symfony11 -V
symfony version 1.1.5-DEV (/usr/share/php/symfony/symfony11/lib)
express@express-dev:~$ symfony12 -V
symfony version 1.2.0-DEV (/usr/share/php/symfony/symfony12/lib)

What next? - Creating a new project
So to create a new project, you will need to use the relevant Symfony command. For example, to create a Symfony 1.0 project:

sudo symfony10 init-project test1

or to create a Symfony 1.1 or Symfony 1.2 Project:

sudo symfony11 generate:project test11
sudo symfony12 generate:project test12

Once you create a new project, check in the project Config to ensure its picked up the right version. For Symfony 1.0:

express@express-dev:/usr/local/express/projects/$ sudo symfony10 init-project test10
express@express-dev:/usr/local/express/projects/$ cat config/config.php

// symfony directories
$sf_symfony_lib_dir = '/usr/share/php/symfony/symfony10/lib';
$sf_symfony_data_dir = '/usr/share/php/symfony/symfony10/data';

for Symfony 1.1:
express@express-dev:/usr/local/express/projects/test$ cat config/ProjectConfiguration.class.php

require_once '/usr/share/php/symfony/symfony11/lib/autoload/sfCoreAutoload.class.php';
sfCoreAutoload::register();
class ProjectConfiguration extends sfProjectConfiguration
{
public function setup()
{
}
}

and for Symfony 1.2, its the same, just make sure its including the right 1.2 files. Thats it! Hope this helps!