[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #23880: Minimum PHP version in Plugins

[WordPress Trac]

#23880: Minimum PHP version in Plugins
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 Reporter:  TJNowell         |       Owner:
     Type:  feature request  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal           |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Plugins          |     Version:
 Severity:  normal           |  Resolution:
 Keywords:                   |
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Comment (by F J Kaiser):

 Replying to [comment:6 interconnectit]:
 > For example, what happens is a working site is migrated to a different
 server that conforms to the WP minimum standards? The site would blow up
 as various plugins with different minimum PHP requirements suddenly threw
 up a whole series of error. It would make migrations a lot less fun.

 From the original note: ''"by preventing activation of a plugin that is
 guaranteed to cause a fatal error"''

 If your code/theme doesn't respect if a plugin isn't active, then it's
 your (themes) fault.
 Before you update WP to a newer version, you have to do several checks and
 tests if your site will still work. The same goes for a new server.

 If you look at the [http://wordpress.org/about/requirements/ list of
 requirements on wp dot org], you won't find {{{cURL}}} or the {{{GD
 library}}} mentioned - which are just the tip of the iceberg of what's
 needed to run WP smoothly. If your server doesn't offer the needed PHP
 version to run everything you ''want'' (like a specific plugin), you have
 to search for a new host. And the same goes for several other requirements
 like memory, disk space and PHP extensions which may be required by a
 plugin that you ''want'' to use.

 I think this ticket does a lot: It doesn't only guarantee that an
 installation will still run when a plugin doesn't meet the requirements,
 it will as well offer a possibility to write future proof code that devs
 will use. And this ''might'' lead to more people pushing their hosts to
 upgrade their PHP versions. Maybe it will as well enable WordPress to move
 to a fresher PHP version much sooner than we all thought. As everybody
 knows: WordPress lives and dies by its ecosystem of themes and plugins.
 And people ''can and will'' adept to it.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/23880#comment:9>
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