Title: Proposal: Introduce Maintenance Mode For Components
Author: Jonathan Desrosiers
Published: July 2, 2025
Last modified: July 30, 2025

---

 [  ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj/) [Jonathan Desrosiers](https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj/)
2:50 pm _on_ July 2, 2025     
Tags: [component-maintainers ( 2 )](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/component-maintainers/),
[components ( 10 )](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/components/)   

# Proposal: Introduce Maintenance Mode For Components

This proposal aims to introduce the concept of legacy components and a process of
managing them in a way that is intentional and accountable.

Once something is committed and released in WordPress CoreCore Core is the set of
software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.,
it comes with an implicit promise of backward compatibility for the foreseeable 
future. But it’s not clear what to do when a feature becomes outdated, unused, or
deprioritized. These features often remain in Core instead of being removed or moved
to a pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions
that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new
features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming
language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.
org Plugin Directory [https://wordpress.org/plugins/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/)
or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party., where bugbug A bug is an error 
or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered
enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with 
regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority.
reports and feature requests can be more appropriately handled, as was done with
[PressThis](https://github.com/wordpress/press-this).

In the past, components have been[ reorganized or removed when no longer relevant](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2014/01/27/proposed-trac-component-reorganization/),
but removing a component is not always appropriate and there’s a missing middle 
ground.

## Defining Maintenance Mode

Maintenance mode would be an official status for components that should continue
to be supported, but are no longer actively developed. Components might qualify 
for this status for reasons such as:

 * Low priority
 * No Maintainer
 * Better, more modern options available
 * Being replaced in the near future

These components would:

 * Continue to receive security updates when necessary.
 * Continue to consider and evaluate all bug reports on an individual basis.
 * Stop accepting feature or enhancementenhancement Enhancements are simple improvements
   to WordPress, such as the addition of a hook, a new feature, or an improvement
   to an existing feature. requests, unless they are necessary to maintain backward
   compatibility or prevent breakage in new WordPress or PHPPHP The web scripting
   language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 
   7.4 or higher versions.

Maintenance mode could be removed from components in the future if conditions change.

### What does maintenance mode look like?

When in maintenance mode, components would continue to have maintainers and regular
triaging should continue. They would be marked clearly in TracTrac An open source
project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management
tool for WordPress. and the [Components page](https://make.wordpress.org/core/components/).

[⌊The "Tickets" overlay on wordpress.org with the Component drop down menu open 
and "TinyMCE (Maintenance Mode) selected.⌉⌊The "Tickets" overlay on wordpress.org
with the Component drop down menu open and "TinyMCE (Maintenance Mode) selected.⌉[

[⌊The WordPress Core Components page that lists all components with maintainers 
and various ticket counts. The TinyMCE sub-component name now includes the text "(
Maintenance Mode)"⌉⌊The WordPress Core Components page that lists all components
with maintainers and various ticket counts. The TinyMCE sub-component name now includes
the text "(Maintenance Mode)"⌉[

[⌊The TinyMCE component report in Trac., The sentence "This component is in maintenance
mode." has been added under the title.⌉⌊The TinyMCE component report in Trac., The
sentence "This component is in maintenance mode." has been added under the title
.⌉[

[⌊The TinyMCE component page on Make WordPress Core. A call out notice has been 
added under the title that says "This component is in maintenance mode and not accepting
new feature or enhancement requests. Read more about maintenance mode."⌉⌊The TinyMCE
component page on Make WordPress Core. A call out notice has been added under the
title that says "This component is in maintenance mode and not accepting new feature
or enhancement requests. Read more about maintenance mode."⌉[

### How would maintenance mode be declared for a component?

The process for placing a component in maintenance mode would be flexible and decided
on a case by case basis. The process should be transparent and involve open discussions
with the contributor community. The process could work like this:

 * A discussion is opened with (or by) current component maintainers about placing
   a component into maintenance mode. 
 * A call for proposal and call for feedback on Make Core is published detailing
   why the component(s) are being considered for maintenance mode.
 * The component is placed in maintenance mode after sign off from leadership.

While a proposal to add the maintenance mode label will usually come from maintainers,
it can also be proposed by any Core contributor. Contributors can perform regular
audits of all components to try and identify any that are appropriate for maintenance
mode.

### What are the benefits of placing components in maintenance mode?

 * Clarifies which features are actively maintained, helping contributors and developers
   focus their efforts where they’re most impactful.
 * Reduces triagetriage The act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order 
   to decide priority, severity, and other factors. noise by lowering the volume
   of low-priority feature requests (there are [currently over 8200 open tickets in Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=new&status=reopened&status=reviewing&group=component&order=priority)).
 * Prevents contributor frustration by setting clear expectations before time is
   spent on patches that are unlikely to be accepted.
 * Establishes precedent for responsible deprecation of features without requiring
   immediate removal.
 * Supports long-term maintenance by allowing legacy components to receive targeted
   attention without open-ended development pressure.
 * Facilitates better communication with users and extenders about Core’s direction
   and future support levels.

## Current Maintenance Mode Candidates

Here are a few components that are possible candidates for the proposed maintenance
mode state.

### TinyMCE

TinyMCE no longer powers the blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe
units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage
using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have
achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent
API and user experience. editor and only remains in Core to maintain Classic Editor
support and backwards compatibility. There’s currently only[ 5 tickets in the component on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/component/TinyMCE),
and updating to more recent versions of the library does not have enough benefit
to justify contributors’ time and effort. Its low ticketticket Created for both 
bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. volume, lack of active development,
and functional redundancy make it a strong candidate for maintenance mode.

### Customize

The CustomizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern
themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings.
served WordPress well, but has effectively been replaced by the block editor and
full site editing. Sites with block themes no longer have access to the Customizer
by default. Despite having [184 open tickets](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=new&status=reopened&status=reviewing&component=Customize&group=type&max=200&col=id&col=summary&col=status&col=owner&col=type&col=priority&col=milestone&order=priority),
development has slowed significantly with most activity focused on bug triage rather
than feature enhancements.

### Shortcodes

Shortcodes played a huge role in WordPress’ evolution, but today blocks offer a 
more modern and flexible alternative. No new features should be added to shortcodes.
In fact, the APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary
that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly
defined ways.’s brittle nature has historically led to bugs from even minor changes(
see [#58333](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/58333)). There are currently
[54 open tickets in this component](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=new&status=reopened&status=reviewing&component=Shortcodes&group=type&max=200&col=id&col=summary&col=status&col=owner&col=type&col=priority&col=milestone&order=priority)(
5 feature requests and 11 enhancements).

### Pingbacks/Trackbacks

Pingbacks and trackbacks are a big part of blogging, so they should remain for the
foreseeable future. It could be replaced by Webmentions in the future should that
mature a bit. The last enhancement ticket was merged over 5 years ago now (see [#36576](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/36576)),
and there has only been one feature ticket in the history of the component ([#34420](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/34420)).

### XML-RPC

XML-RPC is essential to many external apps and services that interact with WordPress,
so it can’t be deprecated. But, the spec has remained largely unchanged for over
a decade. There have been no new enhancement or feature requestfeature request A
feature request should generally begin the process in the ideas forum, on a mailing
list, as a plugin, or brought to the attention of the core team, such as through
scope meetings held for each major release. Unsolicited tickets of this variety 
are typically, therefore, discouraged. tickets closed as fixed since 2017 (term 
metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this
is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make
WordPress. support, see [#40916](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/40916)) 
and 2012 (retrieving post terms, see [#18434](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/18434)).

## Conclusion

Labeling components as legacy and placing them in maintenance mode helps set accurate
expectations, reduce unnecessary churn, and focus contributor efforts on current
project priorities. A documented process also gives maintainers a framework for 
making intentional, accountable decisions about the level of support each component
receives.

If adopted, this approach could help scale WordPress Core’s maintenance model while
staying true to the project’s principles.

_Props [@peterwilsoncc](https://profiles.wordpress.org/peterwilsoncc/), [@priethor](https://profiles.wordpress.org/priethor/),
[@karmatosed](https://profiles.wordpress.org/karmatosed/), and [@4thhubbard](https://profiles.wordpress.org/4thhubbard/)
for peer review._

[#component-maintainers](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/component-maintainers/),
[#components](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/components/)

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 1.  ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a436ab0e9c96432f9852e6c89a6efba387bbbd837e6f3eb29d1c97edad80f6ec?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 2.   [Drivingralle](https://profiles.wordpress.org/drivingralle/)  3:57 pm _on_ July
     2, 2025
 3.  Shortcodes are still very important. As long as there are no bits/bytes or what
     ever the name was are fully developed and shipped shortcodes are the only way 
     to display values inline. Example Names or counts in text blocks.
 4.   * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/18f4f7ebdcd48383951a52a88f401bd6460ae74b626016010b1f0604cac90826?
        s=32&d=mm&r=g)
      *  [Jonathan Desrosiers](https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj/)  4:18 pm _on_
        July 2, 2025
      * To be clear, maintenance mode does not mean deprecated or slated for removal.
        It simply means “no more feature or enhancementenhancement Enhancements are
        simple improvements to WordPress, such as the addition of a hook, a new feature,
        or an improvement to an existing feature. request.”
      * > unless they are necessary to maintain backward compatibility or prevent breakage
        > in new WordPress or PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress 
        > is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 7.4 or higher versions.
      * Would it help if this was expanded to also include something like “properly
        support new features in CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run
        WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.?” That could make it
        more clear that they will remain compatible with features added in the future.
         - ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a436ab0e9c96432f9852e6c89a6efba387bbbd837e6f3eb29d1c97edad80f6ec?
           s=32&d=mm&r=g)
         -  [Drivingralle](https://profiles.wordpress.org/drivingralle/)  10:17 pm 
           _on_ July 3, 2025
         - I think either something is an active coreCore Core is the set of software
           required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. feature
           or a deprecated feature.
            Keeping something up to date / compatible and 
           adjusting it to the changes around it sound pretty much as an active feature.
           An active feature doesn’t need to be the main innovation driver.
         - I would prefer to actually call features deprecated with a road map to move
           them into feature/canonical plugins. Deprecating a feature also doesn’t 
           mean it’s gone next month. We can keep features deprecated for many major
           releases.
         - In that sense I would actually see XMLRPC, Pingbacks and Blogroll be to 
           features to mark as deprecated.
 5.  ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/88f08eb424e714cd32448449d76674213631919d1b90aceee9c47e336c46acbc?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 6.   [Jon (Kenshino)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/kenshino/)  4:12 pm _on_ July
     2, 2025
 7.  +1 to this proposal.
 8.  It’s also important to note that this isn’t saying these components will not work
     anymore, they just won’t be further developed.
 9.  ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1b69f074358e8573b4965ea7a3b799f32a4344d8e4e1c4095fed29a9994479ed?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 10.  [James Hunt](https://profiles.wordpress.org/bonkerz/)  4:32 pm _on_ July 2, 2025
 11. Good initiative! But I’m not a fan of the naming. In most software/devops contexts,“
     maintenance mode” already has a specific meaning – usually referring to a temporary
     state where a system is offline or restricted during updates. That doesn’t seem
     to match what you’re proposing here, and repurposing it to mean “stable but not
     actively developed” could create unnecessary confusion.
 12. A few other terms that might align better with how engineering teams typically
     think about this:
 13. **Frozen**
      **Locked** **Legacy Active** **Legacy (Security Updates Only)** **
     Archived (Security Updates Only)**
 14. Thanks!
 15.  * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5612a0b1e26e958b7cb153ad8d69325be61525b2bba4819361bb69f127ec34b4?
        s=32&d=mm&r=g)
      *  [mrwweb](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mrwweb/)  9:03 pm _on_ July 2, 2025
      * I came to leave the same feedback: Great proposal, but the name is already “
        claimed” and might imply a certain expectation (even likelihood) of coming 
        back.
      * I think both Frozen and Legacy are good starts. The first suggests the literal
        impact while the second is more the “why”.
      * Legacy Freeze
         Legacy Support Bug fixes only Security patches only Feature 
        complete Not maintained Critical fixes only Maintenance only Inactive
      * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/6845456dbc9056f20a4cd50a6b95db78f2ae31df5c0601c613ee5b8939c41a82?
        s=32&d=mm&r=g)
      *  [Jon Brown](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jb510/)  3:37 am _on_ July 3, 2025
      * I came to say the same thing as well. Calling it “Maintenance Mode” is very
        confusing. Please call it literally anything else. “Deprecated” seems fitting
        to me, but “Legacy” or “Legacy Component” works too.
      * Regarding which components to flag:
         Pingbacks/Trackbacks and XML-RPC both 
        make sense.
      * Shortcodes are still very actively used.
         While I have never liked the customizerCustomizer
        Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can 
        use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings., I know
        of dozens of active plugins that still depend on it. TinyMCE is also widely
        used outside of blogblog (versus network, site) posts and needs to be maintained
        one way or another.
      * I understand the desire to label all those components as legacy, but I really
        question whether now is the right time for some of them.
      * However, I would add Post Formats to the list of things that should be flagged
        as legacy, and overall certainly support the idea behind the proposal.
         - ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5612a0b1e26e958b7cb153ad8d69325be61525b2bba4819361bb69f127ec34b4?
           s=32&d=mm&r=g)
         -  [mrwweb](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mrwweb/)  3:59 pm _on_ July 3, 
           2025
         - I really like “Legacy Component”! And good shout re:Post Formats.
      * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/073c32dc827fce95fa48c49f5071cf1ce867797729579eecf1ed31d4b66ce0ec?
        s=32&d=mm&r=g)
      *  [Roger](https://profiles.wordpress.org/rogermedia/)  4:50 pm _on_ July 7, 
        2025
      * Seconding this sentiment. “Maintenance mode” is for temporary work on a site.
        Let’s have this feature but name it something less confusing
 16. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4f50dc56c80eceb636a7ef7d036a019a7d4189e8b3f87d9c899e848248ef36d8?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 17.  [annezazu](https://profiles.wordpress.org/annezazu/)  10:33 pm _on_ July 2, 2025
 18. Thanks for sharing this proposal. I agree with what you’ve outlined and am supportive
     of moving ahead. In particular, I find that there is damage in **not** communicating
     the status of components at this point, both in terms of the contributor experience
     and in terms of the health of the project. I imagine a byproduct of this is that
     we’ll also get a sense of what components might need more help rather than being
     put in maintenance mode by checking with project leadership.
 19. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1bd692736861bd20949789e4a3d922736480efcacb0e44041616c5a79eaa54c0?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 20.  [Darren Ethier (nerrad)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/nerrad/)  12:37 am _on_
     July 3, 2025
 21. I like this proposal. It makes decisions more straightforward for what to do with
     the existing backlog as well as incoming requests. It’s also a good clarification
     for extenders.
 22. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/43d0aa8581d3dee2b5d34706634764378cd905cdf42270665df5ca3fc11380f8?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 23.  [John Parris](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mindctrl/)  12:32 pm _on_ July 3,
     2025
 24. I love this proposal. Clear communication of component status is a trait of healthy
     software projects. I’ve been helping close the [“ancient” tickets](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/ancient),
     and this is a timely proposal. Having a formal designation on these components
     will provide important context and help us all get the huge backlog of TracTrac
     An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project
     management tool for WordPress. tickets under control.
 25. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f0b87af273f6934952a49147f56928924d02ff2d0609def8ac4566aa029298e1?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 26.  [Brian Coords](https://profiles.wordpress.org/bacoords/)  2:42 pm _on_ July 3,
     2025
 27. +1 to the proposal, the list of features mentioned, and the previous commenters
     feedback that ‘maintenance mode’ might not be the right name, but something like“
     legacy support” or any of the other options would make sense.
 28. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1277b76d17bcf88379b2b5694daa2db33627575740f150ffafb0eb35b7d1aed6?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 29.  [Michael Willman](https://profiles.wordpress.org/websiteredev/)  6:48 pm _on_
     July 5, 2025
 30. I shared this proposal on the r/Wordpress subreddit to get some alternative feedback
     and this is what some of the users there had to say:
 31. _User “Mister\_Uncredible” with 7 upvotes_
 32. > Putting them into “maintenance mode” is the first step to depreciating them 
     > completely. Not everyone is on the GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project 
     > is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and
     > experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler.
     > It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc.
     >  [https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/](https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/)
     > train, and it’s been long enough that if they haven’t already, they probably
     > never will.
     > Pingbacks and XML-RPC I think are good choices to move into maintenance mode.
     > The other three, not so much.
 33. _User “focusedphil” with 4 upvotes_
 34. > No.
 35. _User “unity100” with 3 upvotes_
 36. > Its impossible to understand why CustomizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress
     > core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify
     > many of your site’s appearance settings. is being treated like this. It works
     > well, and FSE is nowhere near where it was supposed to be. There is no reason
     > to break something that works. ‘Depreciation’ obsession in Open SourceOpen Source
     > Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely
     > available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered
     > via a licensing model, see GPL. always worked against its adoption among the
     > general populace. This is no different.
 37. _User “LadleJockey123” with 3 upvotes_
 38. > No.
     > Customiser is a key part of the hybrid setup. I use it a lot still. It is also
     > super useful to use when you have launched a site and need to do a few css edits.
     > I use custom shortcodes to add content to areas such as the footer. They are
     > still useful to me
     > I use custom Gutenberg blocks and the generatepress theme.
 39. _User “dirtyoldb**tard77 with 3 upvotes_
 40. > XML-rpc and pingbacks/trackbacks, sure, the rest, absolutely not.
     > However – the choice of name for this is also dumb, since «maintenance mode»
     > is already used for something completely different
 41. _User “cameronembers” with 2 upvotes_
 42. > I’d be all about this if FSE worked better.
 43. One takeaway that I have, is that it seems that decisions by project leadership
     have caused the current userbase of Make.WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community
     site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you
     can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as
     the central location for community conversations and organization. [https://wordpress.org/](https://wordpress.org/)
     to disproportionately use Gutenberg FSE, while this may not be fully representative
     of the larger WordPress userbase. For example, the “Classic Editor” pluginPlugin
     A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added
     to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your
     WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language
     and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org
     Plugin Directory [https://wordpress.org/plugins/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/)
     or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. has over 9 million active installations
     per WordPress.org usage statistics with a 4.9 star rating, while the “Gutenberg”
     plugin has a 2.1 out of 5 star rating.
 44. The challenge, as I see it, is in how to drive continue development and support
     of these components when the users of them are underrepresented in coreCore Core
     is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds
     WordPress. contributions.
 45. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/323cf209e19dd825678e9ccc51bc3f745f96571f1c68af26ae7955c1fa9ad1f2?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 46.  [Aaron Jorbin](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorbin/)  5:15 pm _on_ July 7, 
     2025
 47. >  Visitors usually want to know how a project is doing. For new projects, they
     > want to know the gap between the project’s promise and current reality. For 
     > mature projects, they want to know how actively it is maintained, how often 
     > it puts out new releases, how responsive it is to bugbug A bug is an error or
     > unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered
     > enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with
     > regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority.
     > reports, etc.
     >  Development Status – [Producing Open Source Software](https://producingoss.com/en/getting-started.html#development-status%0A)
     > by Karl Fogel
 48. I think this logic applies here, and this proposal feels like a good step towards
     solving the problem. I also fully agree with the list of components for the first
     batch. I reviewed all of the components and there are a couple more that come 
     close but for now I wouldn’t change the status of. These are:
 49. **Charset** – Very few enhancements/feature requests ever and mostly stable but
     if a new charset was added, it would likely be accepted. I think this higher likelihood
     of moving out of this new status makes it worth keeping in active development.
 50. **Post Formats** – There is still some work to get these working properly in the
     blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed
     together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. 
     The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes,
     custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience.
     editor before I think this is ready. I think the case for the new status on tracTrac
     An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project
     management tool for WordPress. could make sense but it would be odd to be a diferent
     status in GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface
     for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new 
     content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness
     rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc.
      [https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/](https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/).
 51. **widgets** – This is the one that I think gets closest to also be worthy of being
     considered. I think the majority of the work would not take place inside trac 
     due to the block editor being used here since 5.8. There are two maintainers though
     so maybe they would want to do a scrub of the tickets to decide if it should also
     get this new status?
 52. >  These components would:
     > Continue to receive security updates when necessary.
     >  Continue to consider and
     > evaluate all bug reports on an individual basis. Stop accepting feature or enhancementenhancement
     > Enhancements are simple improvements to WordPress, such as the addition of a
     > hook, a new feature, or an improvement to an existing feature. requests, unless
     > they are necessary to maintain backward compatibility or prevent breakage in
     > new WordPress or PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily
     > architected. WordPress requires PHP 7.4 or higher versions.
 53. This to me reads as **Feature Complete**. Support is not ending in any way. In
     some ways, it’s a stronger commitment to backwards compatibility around these 
     components.
 54. A benefit of not using maintenance mode as the name: [That string already appears 10 times in trunk](https://github.com/search?q=repo%3AWordPress%2Fwordpress-develop+%22maintenance+mode%22&type=code).
     If we call it Feature Complete and want to use that in an inline comment, it would
     be unique.
 55.  * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4fd344e387cd0febbb417ee2a2bef7db6b40c8f7ecf4265fb41dcef8e9fa8c4b?
        s=32&d=mm&r=g)
      *  [Joe Dolson](https://profiles.wordpress.org/joedolson/)  2:59 pm _on_ July
        9, 2025
      * I like “Feature Complete” as a name for this concept; I think it conveys the
        sense we’re aiming for well.
      * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5612a0b1e26e958b7cb153ad8d69325be61525b2bba4819361bb69f127ec34b4?
        s=32&d=mm&r=g)
      *  [mrwweb](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mrwweb/)  3:29 pm _on_ July 9, 2025
      * Love “Feature Complete”! Much better than everything I came up with 🙂
 56. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d73f022561a4341299345a084a31f11d5a0a708a2bd5334a53471f2d0103c007?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 57.  [skoen](https://profiles.wordpress.org/skoen/)  11:07 am _on_ July 8, 2025
 58. I would second the opinion of calling the features Legacy. This is also used in
     other software like Photoshop for their old Save for web feature. It’s still widely
     used, but not recommended and a legacy feature. Maintenance Mode is temporary 
     and is already a feature inside coreCore Core is the set of software required 
     to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. whenever plugins
     are updating, and also something you can toggle to set the page into a state of“
     Under construction”.
 59. TinyMCE’s latest version is 7, WP is still using [4.6.2](https://codex.wordpress.org/TinyMCE),
     so the editor itself is Legacy, unless someone actually wants to migrate version
     7 into the core. I have never used, and never will use GutenbergGutenberg The 
     Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves
     the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content
     much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom 
     HTML etc.
      [https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/](https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/)
     or the FSE, because I use a hybrid solution where I use a different site builder
     and a pretty barebones setup for a custom theme. And I use ACF which imho works
     better with the “Classic” Editor than the BlockBlock Block is the abstract term
     used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or 
     layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of 
     what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery
     into a single consistent API and user experience. Editor.
 60. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ee421d3fd85b44d745307f4aba5cdfac6c8b05237fbfe7d443b9827d164ba234?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 61.  [Eduard "RwkY" Doloc](https://profiles.wordpress.org/rwky/)  1:32 pm _on_ July
     9, 2025
 62. I like this, would allow more focus on some other areas.
 63. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/18f4f7ebdcd48383951a52a88f401bd6460ae74b626016010b1f0604cac90826?
     s=32&d=mm&r=g)
 64.  [Jonathan Desrosiers](https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj/)  6:15 pm _on_ 
     July 30, 2025
 65. Thanks everyone for the great feedback! It’s been just about a month, so I’m going
     to close comments.
 66. The prevailing consensus is:
 67.  * The general motivations and thinking outlined in the proposal are good.
      * The “maintenance mode” name is not the best fit.
      * Some disagreement around the specific components that should receive the label
        at this time.
 68. I’ll reread the proposal and make any necessary adjustments before following up
     with project leadership for next steps.

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