[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #33381: Strategize the updating of minimum PHP version.

[WordPress Trac]

#33381: Strategize the updating of minimum PHP version.
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 Reporter:  alexander.rohmann         |       Owner:
     Type:  enhancement               |      Status:  closed
 Priority:  normal                    |   Milestone:
Component:  General                   |     Version:
 Severity:  normal                    |  Resolution:  maybelater
 Keywords:  needs-codex dev-feedback  |     Focuses:
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Comment (by chriscct7):

 Replying to [comment:39 alexander.rohmann]:
 > @pento
 >
 > > I don't really want to have this argument again, but I just can't help
 myself. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 >
 > So you're guilty of taking it off-topic like the rest of us. The nature
 of your response makes me feel like you didn't read anything here. TL;DR;
 and you throw your opinion out and close it down.
 >
 > The intention of this topic was to strategize how to go about upgrading.
 A timeline based seems to be a major opinion, but that doesn't mean it has
 to be the one.
 >
 > > There's nothing in PHP 5.3 or later that's particularly useful in
 WordPress Core, so it's not like we need to force an upgrade for a
 language feature.
 > That's because WordPress Core is a mature platform. You've already coded
 everything with antiquated patterns necessitated by the constructs of
 older PHP. Not upgrading leaves no room for modern development, and is a
 huge disservice to plugin and theme developers.


 To be clear, even if and when WordPress's core PHP supported version gets
 bumped up, that code will almost certainly not change. See core philosophy
 of not refactoring code for the sake of refactoring code (and also the
 ones for backwards compatibility). Unless those specific patterns can be
 implemented in a way that's fully backwards compatible and proven to be
 superior for a reason other than being "not the latest and greatest
 pattern" (such as a significant performance increase), the code will
 remain the same. Also re:constructs, all of the PHP 4 style constructs are
 removed from core in 4.3.

 There by the way is already a mechanism in WordPress and WordPress.org
 that is being used to not serve new major versions to unsupported PHP
 installs, so there's no need for a discussion on implementation of that;
 it already exists, and is already in use.

 But as pento pointed out, WordPress core does not have a need for moving
 the minimum PHP version up. Core doesn't need anything provided in newer
 PHP versions (particularly not at the cost of breaking sites). There's no
 point in talking about when, an if, or a how until there's a why.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/33381#comment:40>
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