As we explained in previous posts (WordPress 6.6, WordPress 6.5, WordPress 6.4, WordPress 6.3), for each new version of WordPress, we aim to release an article explaining the compatibility of PHP PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a general-purpose scripting language especially suited to web development. PHP code is usually processed on a web server by a PHP interpreter. On a web server, the result of the interpreted and executed PHP code would form the whole or part of an HTTP response. with the WordPress versions and our team’s recommendation for that specific version.
On this occasion, once again, we will explain the details of compatibility, including “beta Beta is the software development phase following alpha. A Beta phase generally begins when the software is feature complete but likely to contain a number of known or unknown bugs. Software in the beta phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, speed or performance issues, and may still cause crashes or data loss. The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating usability testing. compatible” or “compatible with exceptions”.
So, here you have the compatibility information, this time, for WordPress 6.7.
Hosting A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. Team Recommendation
The Hosting Team’s recommendations for WordPress 6.7 are as follows (which may differ from the global ones).
- PHP: 8.2.x, 8.3.x
- MySQL MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). MySQL is free and open-source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License.: 8.0.x, 8.4.x
- MariaDB MariaDB is a fork of the MySQL relational database management system (RDBMS), intended to remain free and open-source software under the GNU General Public License. MariaDB intended to maintain high compatibility with MySQL, ensuring a drop-in replacement capability with library binary parity and exact matching with MySQL APIs and commands.: 10.11.x, 11.4.x
IMPORTANT: These recommendations are intended, primarily, for new installations by hosting providers.
Where does that recommendation come from? We did review some configurations and options, we are going to explain.
WordPress’ server A server is a piece of computer hardware or software that provides functionality for other programs or devices. Typical servers are database servers, file servers, mail servers, print servers, web servers, game servers, and application servers. requirements
Even if there are more stable software versions, that doesn’t mean they are the ones WordPress recommends.
WordPress 6.7 requirements:
- PHP: 7.2.25+
- MySQL: 5.5.5+
- MariaDB: 5.5.5+
NOTE: Dropping support for PHP 7.0 and 7.1.
You can read more at Server requirements.
WordPress’ compatibility “at the time”
WordPress 6.7 (released on November 12, 2024) had the following components available (stable or security-maintained versions only, and RC A beta version of software with the potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge. only for informational purposes).
- PHP: 8.1 (Security Support), 8.2 (Active Support), 8.3 (Active Support), and 8.4 (Candidate Support).
- MySQL: 8.0 (LTS), 8.4 (LTS), and 9.1.
- MariaDB: 10.5 (LTS), 10.6 (LTS), 10.11 (LTS), 11.4 (LTS), and 11.5.
- Apache HTTPD The Apache HTTP Server, colloquially called Apache, is a free and open-source cross-platform web server software. The vast majority of Apache HTTP Server instances run on a Linux distribution, but current versions also run on Microsoft Windows, OpenVMS, and a wide variety of Unix-like systems.: 2.4.
- nginx nginx is a web server that can also be used as a reverse proxy, load balancer, mail proxy and HTTP cache. Nginx is free and open-source software, released under the terms of the 2-clause BSD license.: 1.26, and 1.27.
NOTE: PHP has extended the Security Support one extra year for actual (PHP 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, and 8.4) and new PHP versions.
You can read more at WordPress Compatibility.
WordPress and PHP
PHP is a programming language on which WordPress code is based. This language runs on the server, and it is critical to keep it up to date, both for security and functionality.
WordPress supports many versions of PHP, some even obsolete (PHP Compatibility and WordPress Versions).
WordPress 6.7 (core Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress.) is:
- fully compatible with 7.2 (1), 7.3 (1), and 7.4 (1).
- compatible with exceptions with PHP 8.0 (1), 8.1, and 8.2.
- beta compatible with 8.3, and 8.4.
(1) SECURITY ALERT: These versions are not officially maintained by PHP, so they are considered insecure and obsolete versions and should not be used in production. Check with your hosting provider about the security maintenance they can do.
Looking for all the tickets? Check this Trac PHP Search.
What “compatible with exceptions” mean?
PHP 8.0
- #48689: Filesystem WP_Filesystem_FTPext and WP_Filesystem_SSH2 when connect fails. An investigation is underway as to why on some occasions the access to the files returns some type of error. NOTE: Has a patch.
- #49728: Prepare for the internal functions throwing TypeError or ValueError exceptions on unexpected types/values. Internal functions will throw an exception if the function call arguments are of a type that is not expected. NOTE: Has a patch.
- #51019: convert_smilies() fails on large tags. The function fails when dealing with large HTML Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. HTML describes the structure of a web page semantically and originally included cues for the appearance of the document. tags, particularly when an image with a large data URL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org is included in the post content. NOTE: Has a patch, but moved to WordPress 6.8.
- #55121: classic widgets with no settings won’t show up in 5.9. Classic widgets with no settings do not appear correctly in WordPress 5.9 and above. This is due to changes in how widgets are handled in the block 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, causing compatibility problems with older widget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. setups. NOTE: Has a patch, but moved to WordPress 6.3.
- #55257: map_deep() function incompatibility with incomplete objects in PHP 8.0+. The function becomes incompatible with incomplete objects when running on PHP 8.0 or higher. NOTE: Has a patch, but moved to Future Release.
- #59649: Named parameters. WordPress does not support named parameters. PHP 8.0 supports optionally calling functions and class methods by specifying the parameter name, instead of calling them on the order of parameters that they are declared. PHP, and many other programming languages, support positional parameters: The caller passes the parameters in the same order the function/method declares its parameters. NOTE: Moved to WordPress 6.8.
- #60745: WP_Query::parse_query() does not handle invalid query arg values. The function does not properly handle invalid query argument values. This results in PHP fatal errors when unintended data types, like arrays, are passed where scalars are expected. NOTE: Has a patch, but moved to WordPress 6.8.
PHP 8.1
- Not all “passing null to non-nullable” issues have been found. In PHP, you can tell a function exactly what type of information it should accept. If you tell a function to expect a certain type of information, and you give it nothing at all (null is like saying “nothing”), then PHP gets confused and gives an error. This problem happens when someone accidentally gives a function “nothing” when the function wasn’t designed to handle “nothing”.
- #53465: htmlentities() needs the default value of the flags parameter explicitly set. According to htmlentities(), the default for flags for PHP 8.1 was “changed from
ENT_COMPAT to ENT_QUOTES | ENT_SUBSTITUTE | ENT_HTML401“. All use cases for this functionality in Core are being investigated. NOTE: Has a patch.
- #57579: Replace most strip_tags() with wp_strip_tags(). Proposes optimizing how block templates are handled by minimizing unnecessary filesystem calls during their loading process. NOTE: Has a patch, but moved to Future Release.
- #57580: Avoid errors from null parameters in add_submenu_page(). A deprecated error caused by the
wp_normalize_path() function when null is passed as an argument. This issue occurs primarily due to plugins incorrectly passing null in the add_submenu_page() function. NOTE: Has a patch, but moved to Future Release.
- #61179: Deprecated messages about passing null in widgets.php Addresses a deprecated message issue in
widgets.php. NOTE: Has a patch, but moved to WordPress 6.7.
PHP 8.2
What “beta” mean?
PHP 8.3
- Deprecation notices. A deprecation notice is not an error, but rather an indicator of where additional work is needed for compatibility before PHP 9.0. With a deprecation notice, the PHP code will continue to work and nothing is broken.
- #59231: Prepare for PHP 8.3.. NOTE: Has a patch, but moved to WordPress 6.7.
- #59232: Introduce #[Override] attribute to mark overloaded methods This attribute helps prevent coding errors by making it clear when a method is overloaded. It also assists with refactoring, debugging, and catching potential breaking changes in the parent class. NOTE: Has a patch, but moved to Future Release.
- #59233: Improve error handling for unserialize().
maybe_unserialize() function could still be confronted by data with trailing bytes. NOTE: Moved to Future Release.
- #59654: PHP 8.x: various compatibility fixes for WordPress 6.7. This ticket acts as a central hub for smaller patches that fix specific PHP 8.x failures. It continues the work from previous releases, ensuring that WordPress maintains compatibility with newer PHP versions like PHP 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, and upcoming versions like PHP 8.3. NOTE: Moved to WordPress 6.7.
PHP 8.4
- Deprecation notices. A deprecation notice is not an error, but rather an indicator of where additional work is needed for compatibility before PHP 9.0. With a deprecation notice, the PHP code will continue to work and nothing is broken.
- #62061: Prepare for PHP 8.4.. NOTE: Has a patch.
Other related tickets
PHP
Upgrading WordPress
Do you have a version earlier than WordPress 6.7? If so, we recommend you visit the Upgrading WordPress page, where you will find information on how to upgrade from WordPress 0.7 to WordPress 6.7.
#core, #php
