[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #43986: Disable "Install Plugin" button for PHP required version mismatch

[WordPress Trac]

#43986: Disable "Install Plugin" button for PHP required version mismatch
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 Reporter:  schlessera                           |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  task (blessed)                       |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                               |   Milestone:  5.0
Component:  Plugins                              |     Version:
 Severity:  major                                |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  needs-unit-tests servehappy dev-     |     Focuses:
  feedback has-patch                             |
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Comment (by nerrad):

 Thanks for leaving your feedback here Joy.  I think there may be some
 misunderstanding behind the purpose of this ticket so I'll attempt to
 clarify.

 The purpose of this ticket involves using the existing information
 available in the api response from WordPress.org to determine whether the
 server meets the minimum requirements of PHP for a plugin to be installed
 and block installation if that is not possible and guide the user in how
 to rectify that if their server doesn't meet the minimum requirements and
 they still want to install (and thus use) the plugin.   There was an
 addition to that in the course of doing this ticket which involved also
 blocking install if the plugin did not meet the WordPress requirements.
 Since your feedback is focusing on the PHP requirements I'll focus on that
 in my answer.

 > In order to keep a site working through an upgrade, the user will need
 to identify plugins to use with the new PHP version, and install them
 ahead of the upgrade so that they can be activated quickly after the
 upgrade.

 I'm still not sure I understand this correctly but it sounds like your
 concern is about plugins the site owner may already have installed that
 might not work with the upgraded php version and you want a way for site
 owners to identify those so they can either install replacements or
 upgrade the plugins if an update is available.  Is that correct?  If so,
 this ticket won't resolve that issue and quite frankly it can't.  There is
 currently no way for any WordPress install to "know" whether any
 uninstalled plugin will work with a given installed php version (outside
 of what the plugin author provides via the required PHP version meta).
 There was some discussion a while back about introducing a "Works up to"
 value for PHP in the plugin details on WordPress.org but the consensus is
 that was a bad idea for a number of reasons that I don't think is
 worthwhile to go into here.

 One of the reasons users are directed  to the ServeHappy page about
 upgrading php via a link with the warning introduced here is because it
 includes information informing people about the risks involved with an
 upgrade including the possibility of current plugins active on their site
 not working with the new version of PHP.

 It's important to keep in mind that the scope of this ticket is
 ''intentionally'' narrow.

 > Having the warning work in only one direction dictates that it is better
 to install the replacements before the upgrade, but this ticket is about
 making that impossible. And after the upgrade, any attempts to find
 plugins would always have some element of doubt about whether there is a
 PHP conflict (since it won't be flagged).

 I'm not sure how this ticket is "about making that impossible".  What you
 are suggesting is impossible **now**.  This ticket is about ''surfacing''
 information that is available in WordPress.org for plugins that have
 chosen to use the new ''Requires PHP version:'' meta data to make it clear
 what version of PHP their plugin requires.  The work in this ticket
 surfaces that information in a way that makes it immediately apparent to
 site owner's what plugins **definitely** won't work on their site in its
 current state.  This ticket does not have the scope of covering all the
 other issues you raised.    You may want to create a separate trac ticket
 and articulate those things in them for consideration.  However, be aware
 there'd be a number of other components that would need ironed out before
 some of what you suggested could be implemented because there's currently
 no data available that helps with that (maybe when the tide project is
 implemented that would help with that).

 With all that said, I'm also trying to understand the purpose behind your
 feedback and the goal you are shooting for?  Can you elaborate on that?
 For example, are you suggesting that because this ticket doesn't address
 the issues you are raising that its current form will cause more problems
 for users than it solves so you think it should be blocked from release
 until those issues are also solved?

 Finally, I realize you also asked if it'd be better to prevent activation
 rather than installation.  Again this ticket is specifically dealing with
 installation and I think it's worthwhile preventing people from installing
 plugins where version incompatibilities are definitely **known**.   I also
 think its worthwhile blocking activation in the case of plugins that are
 uploaded via ftp and that is being handled in #43992.  Also just in case
 you aren't aware there's also a separate ticket that is dealing with
 plugin upgrades #43987.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/43986#comment:62>
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