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

[Christopher Pinon]

Petko Yotov <5ko at 5ko.fr> writes:

> 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 I may, just my two cents:

Given that Debian 11 (bullseye) will be supported until the end of
August 2026 and that Debian 11 ships with php-7.4, my suggestion would
be to raise the requirement to version 7.4 .

With one exception, I don't think that there's any currently supported Linux
distribution that ships with a php version lower than 7.4 .

The only exception that I know of is RHEL 7, which ships with php-5.4,
but RHEL 7 is now ancient and in Extended Life-cycle Support, which costs
significant money and as a result, very probably isn't used by most
people or institutions or businesses. (RHEL 8 ships with php-8.2 .)

C.