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

[Petko Yotov]

On 26/06/2025 06:38, Radu Luchian wrote:
> I agree there's no ROI in supporting old PHP versions.
> Thank you for bringing this up, Petko. Checked my hosting provider php
> version chooser, and it was stuck in ye olde 5.4...
> Updated it to 8.2 (latest) and it broke my sites.
> Switched to 7.0 and my pages are back... but without the edit links.
> I likely need to upgrade my pmwiki engine, I'm still on an old Nov
> 2019 version, 2.2.121.
> 
> What's the latest php version supported by pmwiki? I looked

I usually develop on the penultimate or latest released by PHP, 
currently I have 8.4.7 and will update to 8.4.8 this weekend.

If you upgrade, please check the pages Upgrades and Release Notes:

   https://www.pmwiki.org/Upgrades
   https://www.pmwiki.org/ReleaseNotes

"Upgrades" shows the most important changes between your previous 
version and the subsequent ones. You should check it when upgrading in 
case you need to switch some option on or off.

"Release Notes" is about all changes, new features.

These pages link to the useful sections in the current documentation 
which I continuously update.

I also recommend checking Troubleshooting: sometimes a problem comes 
from an addon (old recipe, skin, local configuration) that has become 
incompatible with recent PHP versions. Troubleshooting lists the most 
frequent questions and also suggests steps to track the problem:

   https://www.pmwiki.org/Troubleshooting

Petko


> On Sun, Jun 22, 2025 at 4:58 PM Simon <nzskiwi at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> 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!