[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
                                                 |  Review
Component:  General                              |     Version:
 Severity:  normal                               |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  needs-codex dev-feedback 2nd-        |     Focuses:
  opinion                                        |
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Comment (by ZanderZ):

 FWIW, I've been tracking PHP and WP versions from
 https://wordpress.org/about/stats/ for the past few months.

 On January 8, WP 5.6 had 25.1% market share. 5.5 had 23.3%, 5.4 had 13%,
 5.3 had 8%, 5.2 had 6.2%, 5.1 had 3% and 5.0 had 2.5%. I did not track
 versions older than that because the plugin our company creates does not
 target older versions.

 On the same day, PHP 8.0 had 0% market share, 7.4 had 19.9%, 7.3 had
 28.8%, 7.2 had 20.5%, 7.1 had 5.9%, 7.0 had 7.2% and 5.6 had 11.8%. So on
 that day, 75% of WP sites was running PHP 7.1 or higher.

 Today, a lot of sites have upgraded to new WP versions. But versions 5.2
 and below remain largely the same (5.2: 4.9% vs 6.2%, 5.1: 2.4% vs 3%,
 5.0: 1.8% vs 2.5%).

 On the PHP side, the same can be said. PHP 7.4 is now the most used
 version, closely followed by 7.3 (29.4% vs 29.1%). Over 80% of sites are
 running 7.1 or higher. Usage of PHP 7.0 dropped from 7.2% to 5.7% and PHP
 5.6 dropped from 11.8% to 9.4%.

 The 20% of sites that are **not** running PHP 7.1 or higher are most like
 the same sites that still run WP 4 and won't upgrade to a newer version
 regardless of PHP version requirement.

 Please, move WordPress into the new decennium and stop supporting old PHP
 versions.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/33381#comment:142>
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