[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:  closed
 Priority:  normal           |   Milestone:
Component:  Plugins          |     Version:
 Severity:  normal           |  Resolution:  wontfix
 Keywords:                   |     Focuses:
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Comment (by knutsp):

 If minimum PHP version for a plugin was to be implemented in core, then
 there should also be a maximum. I remember plugins using "call-time pass-
 by-reference" leading to a lot of problems when PHP was upgraded. And then
 we have MySQL versions and browser versions. Plugins may even only work in
 combination with a specific theme (framework) version(s), and so on. This
 is all to complicated for core to implement, or partly implement, leaving
 a lot of other cases unsolved.

 Plugins that result in fatal error are not activated, due to sandboxing
 it. That is what core should do, and does.

 Plugins should provide their own, more or less graceful fallback when
 their ideal environment is not fully present, and may be give users a
 message about what doesn't work. We do that falback with CSS when dealing
 with old IE browsers, for example.

 If core was to implement this suggestion then it would also be a signal
 that WordPress encourages plugin developers to set their own PHP minimum
 and at the same time take a kind of responsibility for it. This would be
 double standards, since Core itself has a (lower) requirement and since
 wordpress.org/plugins is a repository, presumably, for all users.

 This is what ''I think'' is the reason behind "inappropriate for Core"
 (@pento).

 And this not being implemented just increases the pressure to get Core to
 require PHP 5.3 soon. I really think WordPress is strong enough to shake
 up the hosting providers by declaring it's intention and give a date for
 it, now.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/23880#comment:51>
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