🔮 PHP 7.2 and 7.3 minimum requirements update timeline

[chrisblakley]

Currently the minimum PHP version WordPress officially supports is 7.3 and libraries Nebula use are starting to bump their minimum version to 7.2.

Nebula's noted minimum PHP version is 7.0 at the moment, but I know many servers that run Nebula are using versions below 7.2... so bumping up the Nebula minimum would "break" those sites (only if they are using specific features/options).

[chrisblakley]

Might not be as bad as previously thought– here is a list of various PHP versions used by Nebula websites YTD (2020) that are above 1% of "market share":

Only 2 of these rows are less than 7.2 (and they are 7.1), so maybe in January 2021 I'll bump Nebula up to 7.2 minimum and update libraries.

Related: #2085

[chrisblakley]

Here is everything over 1% again in the last month (Mid-Jan 2021 to Mid-Feb 2021):

At this point I think it is safe to bump up to minimum PHP 7.2 and the library benefits that come with it.

Edit: Actually, I do see that 7.0 in the top three. I think what I'll do is update the Readme, and then do the actual bump later.

[chrisblakley]

Note to self: Use the new custom report in Google Analytics to monitor server software version usage (PHP and MySQL).

[chrisblakley]

When this does get bumped up, do a search for version comparison conditions throughout Nebula for lower versions than the minimum supported.

• version_compare(phpversion(), '7.2.0', '>=') (/libs/Utilities/Device.php) This library has been removed
• version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '7.2.0') >= 0 (/libs/Options/Metaboxes.php) This has also been removed

[chrisblakley]

Here's my "from the hip" guess at minimum supported PHP version updates for Nebula (as of April 2021):

• As of April 2021, minimum supported PHP version is 7.1.
• 7.2 will probably become the minimum mid-summer 2021 (June/July, After Nebula v9)
• 7.3 possibly November 2021ish? Maybe into January 2022?
• 7.4 possibly around June-November 2022 (After Nebula v10)
• 8.0 sometime in 2023?

This issue is specifically for the 7.2 and 7.3 minimum version updates and will be closed after that. Future min-version updates will use the individual "PHP X.x Upgrade Features/Notes" issues.

Examples:

• 7.4: 🔮 PHP 7.4 Upgrade Features/Notes #2147
• 8.0: 🔮 PHP 8.0 Upgrade Features/Notes #1992

[chrisblakley]

Here is the data in July 2021 – Mid-August 2021:

Nothing lower than 7.2 now in the top 30.

[chrisblakley]

Bumped minimum supported version to PHP 7.2 with next commit.

According to my hip-schedule, we'll eye 7.3 in November 2021, but it seems like it might take longer than that.

Also note that Nebula does not have any checks for version_compare() at this point.

[chrisblakley]

Here is February 2022 (to date):

I'm not in any major hurry to update the minimum, but it seems like we could bring it up to 7.3 anytime now.

Updated timeline:

As of Summer 2021ish, minimum supported PHP version is 7.2.
7.3 in April 2022 (in anticipation of Nebula v10)
7.4 at the earliest Fall/Winter 2022, but more likely Spring 2023
8.0 in Fall/Winter 2023?

[chrisblakley]

Minimum PHP version is now 7.3.

Closing this issue for the next step: #2147