[pmwiki-users] RFC: Raising Minimum PHP Version Requirement

[Simon]

I support reducing the number of PHP versions supported. (see
https://www.php.net/supported-versions).
Old PHP versions often have security issues.
PHP 8.1 was first released 25 Nov 2021 (PHP 8.0 is no longer supported).

I recommend the PmWiki only support PHP versions that are actively
supported, or under security fixed only support.
I appreciate this may break some older recipes. (again which might have
security issues).

Most hosting providers will offer supported versions of PHP, and will
retire unsupported versions.
Upgrading PHP is, IMHE, pretty straightforward.

Hopefully we can ask PM to update his version of PHP, or offer to do it for
him.

Simon


On Sun, 22 Jun 2025 at 00:31, Petko Yotov <5ko at 5ko.fr> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I want to discuss raising the minimum supported PHP version. At the
> moment, we support PHP 5.3 and up, but this range has become
> increasingly difficult to maintain due to modern PHP language features
> that are incompatible with such older versions.
>
> Why this change is being considered:
>
> * PHP 5.3 has been EOL (end-of-life) since 2014, and even PHP 5.6 and
> 7.0 are long out of support.
>
> * Supporting older versions like 5.3 significantly increases maintenance
> effort and testing overhead.
>
> * The vast majority of users (based on feedback and recent issues) are
> on PHP 7.x or 8.x.
>
> * Pm's server runs PHP 7.0 — which is already a more reasonable lower
> bound.
>
> Proposed change:
> I'd like to raise the minimum required PHP version to 5.5 (or ideally
> 7.0). This would allow us to:
>
> * Use more modern syntax (like short arrays, dereferencing, ?? operator,
> etc.).
>
> * Progressively drop conditionals and workarounds for ancient versions.
>
> * More easily integrate new tools and libraries for testing and
> development.
>
> Questions for the community:
>
> * Are there any active wiki administrators still depending on PHP <5.5
> (or <7.0)?
>
> * Would raising the requirement to 5.5 be acceptable to everyone? What
> about 7.0?
>
> * If someone is still on an older PHP version, is there a reason they
> can't upgrade?
>
> There is a PITS entry with a poll and a discussion:
>
>    https://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/PITS/01504
>
> I'd like to get feedback before making the change, so please chime in
> with your thoughts. My goal is to balance moving the project forward
> while being considerate to users who may be on older systems.
>
> Thanks!
> Petko
>
> --
> If you upgrade :  https://www.pmwiki.org/Upgrades
>
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>
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