[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #33381: Strategize the updating of minimum PHP version.

[WordPress Trac]

#33381: Strategize the updating of minimum PHP version.
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 Reporter:  alexander.rohmann                    |       Owner:  jorbin
     Type:  enhancement                          |      Status:  assigned
 Priority:  normal                               |   Milestone:  Awaiting
Component:  General                              |  Review
 Severity:  normal                               |     Version:
 Keywords:  needs-codex dev-feedback 2nd-        |  Resolution:
  opinion                                        |     Focuses:
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Comment (by dd32):

 > Thoughts on serving PHP 5.2 users security updates only? (explained in
 more detail above)
 That punishes users for something they don't understand or control, so no,
 it's not something that aligns with the WordPress philosophies and as such
 isn't something we'd do.

 > WordPress has become an ecosystem unto itself, which for the PHP
 developer means it's incredibly difficult to work on either side of the
 fence. Perpetuating adherence to unsupported technology is just an ever
 growing technical liability.

 And one which you're free to do what you want within - like I said, you
 don't have to support WordPress 3.7, although WordPress still supports it
 by shipping security releases for it - did you know we're up to
 [https://wordpress.org/download/release-archive/ 3.7.18?], likewise, you
 don't have to support PHP 5.x if you don't want to, you can make your
 plugin PHP 7.x only if you want, you'll just need to educate your users
 who can't use it about how to update their systems - if your plugin
 requires newer features you're in a far better place to educate the user
 as to why you need it than WordPress is.

 ----

 Yes, I'd prefer WordPress dropped support for PHP 5.2, 5.3 and even 5.4 -
 there's 1/3 of the WordPress 4.7 user-base right there, but I don't think
 it's an effort which at this time can be pushed by WordPress itself, some
 plugins such as [https://github.com/Yoast/wordpress-seo/issues/6293 Yoast
 SEO] are planning to throw notices to older PHP users in an attempt to get
 their user base to update so that they can bump their minimum PHP
 versions, I'm eagerly awaiting to see how that goes and to see if it can
 form the basis of a larger push from the WordPress community as a whole,
 rather than relying upon WordPress core itself to be the driving force.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/33381#comment:95>
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