[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #54584: Site Health should flag PHP versions in the dev-stable branch

[WordPress Trac]

#54584: Site Health should flag PHP versions in the dev-stable branch
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 Reporter:  DionDesigns  |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal       |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Site Health  |     Version:
 Severity:  normal       |  Resolution:
 Keywords:               |     Focuses:  docs
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Comment (by DionDesigns):

 We have seen the issue I'm raising during the past two months, with users
 updating to the latest version of PHP and finding that WordPress no longer
 works. WordPress 5.8 will not even install if PHP 8.1 is active.

 Yes, this issue will (I think) go away in a few days with the release of
 WordPress 5.9, but that isn't the point. With some minor changes in Site
 Health and the WP documentation, for most people the issue would have
 never occurred.

 For example, statements such as "PHP 7.4 or later" should be avoided.
 Instead, for the release of WP 5.9, use "PHP 7.4 - 8.1" and make a
 statement to the effect that later versions of PHP may work, but this
 release of WordPress is only guaranteed to work with the versions of PHP
 that were available at the time of its release. If PHP 8.2 is released
 before WordPress 6.0, change the statement to "PHP 8.0 and 8.1" until
 WP6.0 is released.

 You could even build the highest supported PHP release for each WP version
 into wp-includes/version.php:


 {{{
 $max_php_version = '8.1';
 }}}

 This could also allow a simple check during the install process to flag
 potential problems before they occur.

 The text on https://wordpress.org/support/update-php/ states in several
 places that people should run "the latest version of PHP" -- including in
 a proposed letter to the user's hosting company. Perhaps these occurrences
 should changed to something like "the latest production-stable version of
 PHP", and make a statement near the top of the page (perhaps in boldface)
 such as "The latest version of PHP is in the development-stable branch,
 and while we make every effort to maintain compatibility with this branch,
 WordPress is not guaranteed to work correctly with it."

 Anyway, I hope you see my point.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54584#comment:4>
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