[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 JavierCasares):

 About the “standardization” / predictability, as we know, since PHP 7.0,
 PHP has launched a new version each end of the year (Nov / Dec). All the
 hostings are upgrading between Dec / Jan the new PHP versions, and
 deprecating the oldest ones, so, since PHP 7.0 (before it was not
 regular), yes, we have some predictability.

 Some time ago, we discussed this in the Hosting team, and, it's not
 optimal, but try to get in the middle between Hosting companies, Security
 and developers. It's like an algorithm, so, it can be adapted. From the
 hosting Team we launched
 [https://make.wordpress.org/hosting/handbook/compatibility/ this page] to
 have in mind everything about this.

 Taking the actual versions:

 WordPress / PHP / MySQL / MariaDB / Launch date
 WordPress 6.1 / 7.4 – 8.1 / 5.7 – 8.0 / 10.3 – 10.9 / 2022-11-01

 So, WordPress 6.1 should support PHP 8.1, PHP 8.0, and PHP 7.4 (security
 support) and, 3 more versions (2, 3? more years-versions). This makes
 support for PHP 7.3, PHP 7.2 and PHP 7.1.

 If in March, we have WP 6.2, the calculation should be:

 WordPress / PHP / MySQL / MariaDB / Launch date
 WordPress 6.2 / 8.0 – 8.2 / 5.7 – 8.0? / 10.3 – 10.10? / 2023-03-nn?

 So, WordPress 6.2 should support PHP 8.2, PHP 8.1, and PHP 8.0 (security
 support) and, 3 more versions (2, 3? more years-versions). This makes
 support for PHP 7.4, PHP 7.3, and PHP 7.2.

 If we try and older version, the numbers should work the same:

 WordPress / PHP / MySQL / MariaDB / Launch date
 WordPress 5.1 / 7.1 – 7.3 / 5.6 – 8.0 / 10.1 – 10.3 / 2019-02-21

 So, WordPress 5.1 should support PHP 8.0, PHP 7.4, and PHP 7.3 (security
 support) and, 3 more versions (2, 3? more years-versions). This makes
 support for PHP 7.2, PHP 7.1, and PHP 7.0.

 Also, there were some remarks about having like some margin for major PHP
 versions, like when PHP 5 → PHP 7 happened, and like is happening with PHP
 7 → PHP 8. In that case, the support for this “last version” should be
 extended like 1-2 years more because probably there are some breaking in
 the code, and also because there is unofficial support for those versions,
 like happened with PHP 5.6, and is happening with PHP 7.4.

 And, after all this data, yes, I understand we may leave some people
 behind, but we should ask who is the responsible for this. Both user and
 hosting companies have responsibility. The hosting companies provide the
 tools to upgrade, and WordPress has their information dashboards about it,
 also Control Panels like cPanel or Plesk inform about this PHP
 deprecation, so, the information is there.

 If people don't update their sites in a year, who is responsible? Only the
 user because the tools are there, the information is there, and also there
 is information for users and hosting companies on
 [https://make.wordpress.org/hosting/handbook/upgrading/ how to do an
 upgrade from older versions].

 Moreover, now we have like 9 versions in core to support (PHP 5.6, 7.0,
 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2) creating some struggle for everybody
 (developers, hosting, test…) because the incompatibilities between a lot
 of these versions.

 If somebody doesn't maintain their site in 5 years, with all the
 information is there, WE (as a Community) don't leave anybody behind,
 people are behind because they want because all the tools are in their
 hands. WE gave some time ago all the tools, the Site Health, the dashboard
 panels, the automatic updates, so, I understand the position from Matt,
 but don't think leaving some ghost sites behind is a problem.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/57345#comment:57>
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