[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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Changes (by MikeSchinkel):

 * cc: mike@… (added)


Comment:

 Replying to [comment:13 TJNowell]:
 > Replying to [comment:12 markoheijnen]:
 > > Replying to [comment:11 TJNowell]:
 > If your plugins share common code, namespacing is a massive help to
 prevent conflicts and clashes between differing versions. Sure on a
 clients machine you can separate them out into some kind of library plugin
 but on org that isn't as feasible

 I've built a [https://github.com/newclarity/imperative library manager]
 for this purpose, to allow multiple plugins to embed the same library but
 only have one of them loaded into memory. I'd love to see a similar
 concept included in core but I have a lot of blog-advocacy to do before I
 add a trac ticket about it to ensure people actually understand it and why
 it's a good solution vs. other approaches.

 > > Libraries is indeed an issue and I also sometimes use them. However I
 would never release the plugin on .org.
 >
 > I'd be apprehensive about this too, but if your plugin is already on org
 when the library makes a shift to 5.3 while making the 5.2 version
 unusable? E.g. a social network API
 >
 > But if I had a perfectly working plugin working under 5.3, I'd like the
 option to put it up responsibly, warning 5.2 users, rather than
 backporting to 5.2 which could be a lot of work, then undoing all the work
 when WordPress shifts to 5.3.

 I agree that ''"just say no"'' is not a pragmatic answer. Unfortunately
 [http://wordpress.org/about/stats/ 62.4% of WordPress users are still on
 5.2.x] which mean IMO it's irresponsible to publish a plugin that requires
 PHP 5.3 except for in unavoidable circumstances like you quote.

 But if there were a "Minimum PHP" tag then lots of plugin developers would
 use it and disenfranchise many, many others whose webhosts haven't made
 the change or haven't made the change easy or obvious.

 Ironically [http://tommcfarlin.com/instantiate-a-wordpress-
 plugin/#comment-112521 I suggested a "Move to PHP 5.3" campaign ] on Tom
 McFarlin's blog just a few days ago.  I think the best way to solve this
 is get the WordPress community to make a big push for upgrading to PHP 5.3
 in the next few releases with a notice of move to PHP 5.3 for 4.0, maybe
 including a features that are PHP 5.3-specific starting in 3.7 that would
 get many users to (learn how to) upgrade.

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/23880#comment:14>
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