How to install symfony on PHP 5.2.8 with no phar support (Composer dependency)?

Question

I have been attempting to install symfony on my website however I have had little success as it depends on composer.

To install:

php -r "eval('?>'.file_get_contents('https://getcomposer.org/installer'));"

When I attempted the install (all install options appear to require phar support) I got this output:

-----------------------------------------------------------
Warning: Unexpected character in input:  '\' (ASCII=92) state=1 in Command line code(1) : eval()'d code on line 378
#!/usr/bin/env php
Some settings on your machine make Composer unable to work properly.
Make sure that you fix the issues listed below and run this script again:

The phar extension is missing.
Install it or recompile php without --disable-phar

Your PHP (5.2.8) is too old, you must upgrade to PHP 5.3.2 or higher.
-----------------------------------------------------------

I do not have privileges to install a different version of php as I am using a paid webhost that is somewhat restrictive. What are my options?

Answer 1

Symfony 2 doesn't support php < 5.3.2 http://symfony.com/doc/2.0/reference/requirements.html

If you cannot upgrade your php version then find another web host or use a different framework.