[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #57345: Bump the minimum required PHP version to 7.2

[WordPress Trac]

#57345: Bump the minimum required PHP version to 7.2
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 Reporter:  SergeyBiryukov                       |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  task (blessed)                       |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                               |   Milestone:  Future
                                                 |  Release
Component:  General                              |     Version:
 Severity:  normal                               |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch has-unit-tests 2nd-        |     Focuses:
  opinion                                        |
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Comment (by costdev):

 Looking at https://wordpress.org/about/stats on the Wayback Machine since
 January 2022, here's what it showed:

 {{{#!html
 <table width="80%" border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse;">
 <tr>
 <th style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center; padding-left: 10px;
 padding-right: 10px;">Month/Year</th>
 <th style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center; padding-left: 10px;
 padding-right: 10px;">PHP 5.6</th>
 <th style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center; padding-left: 10px;
 padding-right: 10px;">PHP 7.0</th>
 <th style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center; padding-left: 10px;
 padding-right: 10px;">PHP 7.1</th>
 <th style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center; padding-left: 10px;
 padding-right: 10px;">Total</th>
 <th style="font-weight: bold; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;">Change since last</th>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;""><br>Jan 2022<br><br></td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">7.1</td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">4.0</td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">2.9</td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">14.0</td>
 <td style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;">Baseline.<br>Continues through April 2022.</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;""><br><br>May 2022<br><br><br></td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">6.0</td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">3.3</td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">2.3</td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">11.6</td>
 <td style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;">-2.4% of all
 sites.<br>-17.1% of PHP 5.6-7.1 sites.<br>Continues through September
 2022.</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;""><br><br>Oct 2022<br><br><br></td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">5.1</td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">2.7</td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">1.8</td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">9.6</td>
 <td style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;">-2% of all
 sites.<br>-17.2% of PHP 5.6-7.1 sites.<br>Continues through January
 2023.</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;""><br>Feb 2022<br><br></td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">4.6</td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">2.5</td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">1.7</td>
 <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
 10px;"">8.8</td>
 <td style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;">-0.8% of all
 sites.<br>-8% of PHP 5.6-7.1 sites.</td>
 </tr>
 </table>
 }}}

 Assuming the data shown on the page is accurate at the time, this points
 to the transition slowing, so I don't think we're able to predict/suggest
 a milestone using the percentage of websites using PHP 5.6-7.1 at this
 time.

 The general requirements for a bump are laid out in
 [https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/57345#comment:29 this comment],
 with an example notice of six months before a bump mentioned in
 [https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/57345#comment:42 this comment].

 For now, IMO, I think it's best that we avoid acting on predictions of
 when a drop below 5% combined usage will occur, and instead either explore
 to what degree requirements are flexible (not at all, in some ways, etc),
 or wait until the combined usage is less than 5%, and resume discussion
 about possible next steps.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/57345#comment:62>
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