[wp-hackers] Plugins and supporting old versions of WordPress

[Jennifer Hodgdon]

Viper007Bond wrote:
> Philosophy question time.
> 
> I'm currently re-coding a plugin of mine and the new version will require
> jQuery which was added in WP 2.2.0. [...]
> 
> So to the question: what should be the minimum WP version for the new
> version of my plugin? 

My opinion: 2.2.0. Let them keep using as old of a version of WP as 
possible, because they may have reasons for not upgrading (such as 
that authors of other plugins they are using have not gotten around to 
making them compatible with newer versions). I'm not saying it's good 
for them not to upgrade, but it is a reality for some WP users who are 
not capable of upgrading their own plugins as WP changes.

Which also means it would be helpful if WP would consider maintaining 
security fixes on a few more of the old branches. (Do we still have 
*any* branches maintained except 2.5 with security fixes, actually?) 
Many other open-source projects do this. I realize that it's a pain to 
do, but it's also difficult for plugin authors (volunteers, after all) 
to keep up with the whims of the WP core code.

     --Jennifer

-- 
Jennifer Hodgdon * Poplar ProductivityWare
www.poplarware.com

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