Summary, Dev Chat, July 9, 2025

Start of the meeting in SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/., facilitated by @jeffpaul. 🔗 Agenda post.

Highlighted Posts ✨

Forthcoming releases 🚀

WordPress 6.8.2 RC1 Now Available for Testing

The release candidate (RC1) for WordPress 6.8.2 is here! This is your chance to help test and ensure everything runs smoothly before the official release on Tuesday, July 15th. Developers, testers, and contributors are encouraged to get involved — every test helps make WordPress better!

Discussion 💬

Maintenance Mode for Components

The proposal to place under-maintained CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. components into “Maintenance Mode” received broad support. Some contributors found the term unclear and requested transparent roadmaps—especially for components like Bulk Edit, where the future remains uncertain. Frustrations were expressed regarding stalled patches and unclear priorities, highlighting the need for better communication and planning.

Removal of “BetaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. Support” Label for PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 7.4 or higher 8.3

The “Beta Support” label for PHP 8.3 has been officially removed, reflecting its stable support status.

Raising the Minimum PHP Version to 7.4

WordPress 6.9 plans to raise the minimum required PHP version to 7.4. Although not yet finalized, this is likely as less than 5% of users run older versions. The change aims to improve security, performance, and compatibility while reducing maintenance efforts.

Props to @audrasjb and @jeffpaul for review.

#6-8, #core, #dev-chat, #summary