[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #57345: Bump the minimum required PHP version to 7.2
WordPress Trac
noreply at wordpress.org
Wed Feb 15 17:16:04 UTC 2023
#57345: Bump the minimum required PHP version to 7.2
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Reporter: SergeyBiryukov | Owner: (none)
Type: task (blessed) | Status: new
Priority: normal | Milestone: Future
| Release
Component: General | Version:
Severity: normal | Resolution:
Keywords: has-patch has-unit-tests 2nd- | Focuses:
opinion |
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Comment (by snoringdragon):
Replying to [comment:62 costdev]:
> Looking at https://wordpress.org/about/stats on the Wayback Machine
since January 2022, here's what it showed:
>
> {{{#!html
> <table width="80%" border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse;">
> <tr>
> <th style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center; padding-left: 10px;
padding-right: 10px;">Month/Year</th>
> <th style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center; padding-left: 10px;
padding-right: 10px;">PHP 5.6</th>
> <th style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center; padding-left: 10px;
padding-right: 10px;">PHP 7.0</th>
> <th style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center; padding-left: 10px;
padding-right: 10px;">PHP 7.1</th>
> <th style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center; padding-left: 10px;
padding-right: 10px;">Total</th>
> <th style="font-weight: bold; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;">Change since last</th>
> </tr>
> <tr>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;""><br>Jan 2022<br><br></td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">7.1</td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">4.0</td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">2.9</td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">14.0</td>
> <td style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;">Baseline.<br>Continues through April 2022.</td>
> </tr>
> <tr>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;""><br><br>May 2022<br><br><br></td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">6.0</td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">3.3</td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">2.3</td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">11.6</td>
> <td style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;">-2.4% of all
sites.<br>-17.1% of PHP 5.6-7.1 sites.<br>Continues through September
2022.</td>
> </tr>
> <tr>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;""><br><br>Oct 2022<br><br><br></td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">5.1</td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">2.7</td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">1.8</td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">9.6</td>
> <td style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;">-2% of all
sites.<br>-17.2% of PHP 5.6-7.1 sites.<br>Continues through January
2023.</td>
> </tr>
> <tr>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;""><br>Feb 2022<br><br></td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">4.6</td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">2.5</td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">1.7</td>
> <td style="text-align: center; padding-left: 10px; padding-right:
10px;"">8.8</td>
> <td style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;">-0.8% of all
sites.<br>-8% of PHP 5.6-7.1 sites.</td>
> </tr>
> </table>
> }}}
>
> Assuming the data shown on the page is accurate at the time (and using
the best calculations available to me at the moment), this points to the
transition slowing, so I don't think we're able to predict/suggest a
milestone using the percentage of websites using PHP 5.6-7.1 at this time.
>
> The general requirements for a bump are laid out in
[https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/57345#comment:29 this comment],
with an example notice of six months before a bump mentioned in
[https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/57345#comment:42 this comment].
>
> For now, IMO, I think it's best that we avoid acting on predictions of
when a drop below 5% combined usage will occur, and instead either explore
to what degree requirements are flexible (not at all, in some ways, etc),
or wait until the combined usage is less than 5%, and resume discussion
about possible next steps.
New PHP versions (minor or major) are released in Nov/Dec each year. We
will have PHP 9.0 in Nov/Dec 2025. So, that will be around 2.5 years.
After reducing 6 months of advance notice, we need to drop support for PHP
5.6/7.0/7.1/7.2/7.3 (not talking about 7.4) in next 2 years unless we plan
to introduce a lots of new polyfills.
We should preferably drop PHP 5.6, 7.0 and 7.1 support in a year, so
wordpress devs are better prepared for handling PHP 9's arrival as its
RFCs gets accepted.
BTW, Phpunit 10 was released on 3rd Feb 2023. It introduces breaking
changes and requires PHP 8.1 or later.
I think we should aim to drop support for PHP 5.6 (not talking about 7.0
and 7.1) in WP 6.3 and release make post asap. We meet all conditions
required to drop support for PHP 5.6
As for 7.0 and 7.1, we should aim to drop their support in WP 6.4/6.5
Thanks a lot for your time.
--
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/57345#comment:64>
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