Bump ServeHappy PHP recommendation

[Clorith]

previously #4671

It's that time again, PHP has had a couple of updates, and time has passed.

With that in mind, there's a desire to start nudging things forward again in terms of adoption rates for PHP versions.

Currently, the ServeHappy dashboard widget is showing the upgrade notice to uses of PHP 5.6 or lower.

After discussing with the core Site Health team, and the Hosting Team, it has come up that the most sensible next move is to show the upgrade notice to users of PHP <=7.1 (this means setting ACCEPTABLE_PHP to 7.2)

Looking at the numbers, we're seeing roughly 25% of sites running a WordPress version that includes ServeHappy would then get an upgrade notice.

Along with this, the attached patch also updates other relevant versions numbers for the SUPPORTED_PHP and SECURE_PHP versions which relate to the actively supported, and security updates only versions respectively.

And a quick comment change to make it much clearer what the last constant actually related to/controls.

As with the previous bump, this ticket acts as a reminder, as we wish to do the bump on Friday June 12th (no specific time of day), giving enough time for the hosting team to get situated, as well as for us to signal boost the change.

[SergeyBiryukov]

In 9959:

API: ServeHappy: Bump the minimum acceptable PHP version to 7.2.

Sites with a version lower than this will see the ServeHappy dashboard widget urging them to update.

Additionally:

• Bump the lowest branch of PHP which is actively supported to 7.3.
• Bump the lowest branch of PHP which is receiving security updates to 7.2.

See ​https://www.php.net/supported-versions.php.

Props Clorith.
Fixes #5257.

[SergeyBiryukov]

In 9960:

API: ServeHappy: Restore the previous comment for ACCEPTABLE_PHP in addition to the new comment for consistency.

See #5257.

[SergeyBiryukov]

In 9975:

API: ServeHappy: Bump the recommended PHP version to 7.4, the latest stable branch.

See ​https://www.php.net/supported-versions.php.

Follow-up to [9959].

Props Clorith.
Fixes #5279. See #5257.

[ramiy]

@SergeyBiryukov

The ​Requirements page should be updated too.

[SergeyBiryukov]

Replying to ramiy:

The ​Requirements page should be updated too.

Could you elaborate? It already recommends PHP version 7.4 or greater, as per [9975].

As for "WordPress also works with PHP 5.6.20+", that's still correct as of WordPress 5.5.

[xedin.unknown]

So, when can we expect PHP 7.2 (or at least 7.0) to become the minimal requirement?

[SergeyBiryukov]

Replying to xedin.unknown:

So, when can we expect PHP 7.2 (or at least 7.0) to become the minimal requirement?

Per the ​Site Health meeting of May 11th (​Slack logs), WordPress 5.6 is the current goal for that.

[xedin.unknown]

@SergeyBiryukov, the page you linked to talks about how to encourage users to upgrade to PHP 7.1. It doesn't seem to mention when or whether this will actually become a requirement. If this is a real decision, maybe worth including it there?

[SergeyBiryukov]

Replying to xedin.unknown:

the page you linked to talks about how to encourage users to upgrade to PHP 7.1. It doesn't seem to mention when or whether this will actually become a requirement. If this is a real decision, maybe worth including it there?

That's just an agenda post for a Slack meeting that happened in May :) The decision has not been made yet and will be announced separately when that happens.

[xedin.unknown]

Got it, thanks! Any estimation on when such a decision may be taken?

[SergeyBiryukov]

I think in August/September, when WordPress 5.6 development starts.

[xedin.unknown]

Great, thanks!

[ramiy]

Replying to SergeyBiryukov:

Replying to ramiy:

The ​Requirements page should be updated too.

Could you elaborate? It already recommends PHP version 7.4 or greater, as per [9975].

As for "WordPress also works with PHP 5.6.20+", that's still correct as of WordPress 5.5.

I was talking about updating the requirements page and updating the minimum required PHP version to 7.2 (as of WordPress 5.5 or 5.6).

[SergeyBiryukov]

Gotcha, thanks. As noted above, the minimum required version is not changing at this time, WordPress 5.5 will still work with PHP 5.6.20 or greater.

The only purpose of [9959] was to show a "PHP Update Required" dashboard widget to encourage users to update to PHP 7.2 or greater, preferably 7.4.

When the minimum requirement does change (likely later this year), it will be announced separately.

[xedin.unknown]

Ok, great 🤞! Thanks!