The hostingHostingA 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 works to improve WordPress’ end-user experience across hosting environments through industry collaboration and user education.
Want to contribute? Come join us!
The team meets in the #hostingSlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel each week on Wednesday at 0900 UTC and 1800 UTC. Check out local times at make/meetings.
As we explained in the previous post, for each new version of WordPress, we aim to release an article explaining the compatibility of PHPPHPPHP (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 “betaBetaBeta 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 6.5.
WordPress’ serverServerA 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.
This makes WordPress 6.5 requirements:
PHP: 7.0+
MySQLMySQLMySQL 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.: 5.5.5+
MariaDBMariaDBMariaDB 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.: 5.5.5+
WordPress 6.5 was released on April 2, 2024, and at that time we had the following components available (stable or security-maintained versions only, and RCRelease CandidateA 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 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 6.5 (coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress.) is:
fully compatible with PHP 7.01, 7.11, 7.21, 7.31, and 7.41.
compatible with exceptions with PHP 8.01, 8.1, and 8.2.
beta compatible with 8.3.
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 hostingHostingA 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. provider about the security maintenance they can do.
What “compatible with exceptions” mean?
PHP 8.0
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.
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”.
Replace most strip_tags() with wp_strip_tags(). There are rare occasions when the strip_tags() function is passed a null value, which generates a warning that the string is deprecated.
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.
Hosting Team Recommendation
Taking all this into account, the Hosting Team’s recommendations for WordPress 6.5 are as follows (which may differ from the global ones).
PHP: 8.2.x
MySQL: 8.0.x
MariaDB: 10.11.x
IMPORTANT: These recommendations are intended, primarily, for new installations by hosting providers.
This past weekend, the Clodfest Hackathon took place and the HostingHostingA 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 proposed a project to improve the tools.
Thanks to Pascal (@swissspidy), Cesar, and myself (@javiercasares), we have been able to make progress on some elements that had been in the backlog for over 4 years.
An important detail is that all the changes made are backward compatible so that the default configuration should not affect any of the new features, especially considering GitHubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. Actions.
What has been achieved?
The first step was to include support for Multi-PHPPHPPHP (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.. This way, a user could submit different reports of the same commit but with different versions of PHP installed.
The second step was to create Multi-Environment. This allows a user to establish different servers with their respective configurations and PHP versions. This allows, for example, having an environment for “shared hosting”, another for “vps”, and another for “cloud”. This is in addition to the Multi-PHP from before.
The third step was to support All-Commits. The tool previously only executed the latest available commit. With this new change, a list of the 10 latest commits will be made, and all of them will be processed in case many commits are sent in a short time. Usually, the tool can take between 5 and 30 minutes per process, and sometimes commits that were never tested in all environments could be lost.
All these changes are accompanied by their respective improvements in the PHPUnit Test Reporter, the pluginPluginA 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 or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. that collects and displays the information.
From now on, the initial list will be a summary of the different environments and how many are working and failing. Once inside, we can see the list of all environments and PHP combinations. This is the visualization for developers: one commit, many results.
Furthermore, there is the option for different bots (i.e., different providers) to have their list and on the same screen, they can see the list of the latest tests and thus easily detect when or in what change an error occurred. This is the visualization for providers: one provider, many results.
Where can the changes be seen?
They are not yet approved because they need code review, documentation, and validation by more people. The focus of the Hackathon was to include the functionality, and it was done “too quickly,” so there is duplicated code and improvements can be made. It works, yes, but it’s not pretty.
If you want to contribute, please review and test the code to validate that everything works correctly.
Next steps
In addition to giving a code review, looking for possible errors, and proposing some improvements, we also intend to review the documentation on how to install and maintain the system automatically.
In parallel, we will review with the #core team that everything is working fine and that the GitHub Actions do not give errors, even with the possibility of running different tests depending on the PHP version.
As we explained in the previous post, for each new version of WordPress, we aim to release an article explaining the compatibility of PHPPHPPHP (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 “betaBetaBeta 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 6.4.
WordPress’ serverServerA 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.
This makes WordPress 6.4 requirements:
PHP: 7.0+
MySQLMySQLMySQL 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.: 5.0.15+
MariaDBMariaDBMariaDB 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.: 5.5+
WordPress 6.4 was released on November 7, 2023, and at that time we had the following components available (stable or security-maintained versions only, and RCRelease CandidateA 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: 8.0–8.2, and 8.3-RC
MySQL: 5.0–8.1 (LTS versions: 8.0)
MariaDB: 10.4–10.6, and 10.10–11.0 (LTS versions: 10.6, and 10.11)
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 6.4 (coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress.) is:
fully compatible with PHP 7.01, 7.11, 7.21, 7.31, and 7.41.
compatible with exceptions with PHP 8.0, 8.1, and 8.2.
beta compatible with 8.32.
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 hostingHostingA 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. provider about the security maintenance they can do.
2 DEVELOPMENT ALERT: These versions are in development, so it’s not recommended to use them in a production environment. PHP 8.3 release date: November 23, 2023.
What “compatible with exceptions” mean?
PHP 8.0
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.
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”.
Replace most strip_tags() with wp_strip_tags(). There are rare occasions when the strip_tags() function is passed a null value, which generates a warning that the string is deprecated.
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.
Hosting Team Recommendation
Taking all this into account, the Hosting Team’s recommendations for WordPress 6.4 are as follows (which may differ from the global ones).
PHP: 8.1.x or 8.2.x
MySQL: 8.0.x
MariaDB: 10.11.x
IMPORTANT: These recommendations are intended, primarily, for new installations by hosting providers.
Some time ago, we commented on the compatibility of WordPress with PHP 8. Since the release of this version of PHPPHPPHP (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., and the major versions of WordPress that have appeared since then, have led to the creation of concepts unknown to the WordPress community, such as “betaBetaBeta 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”.
We’ve had WordPress 6.3 with us for a while now, and maybe it’s time to clarify a few things, which we’ll be keeping up with each major version of WordPress as it’s released.
WordPress’ serverServerA 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.
MySQLMySQLMySQL 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.: 5.0.15+
MariaDBMariaDBMariaDB 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.: 5.5+
WordPress 6.3 was released on August 8, 2023, and at that time we had the following components available (stable or security-maintained versions only).
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 6.3 (coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress.) is:
fully compatible with PHP 7.01, 7.11, 7.21, 7.31, and 7.41.
compatible with exceptions with PHP 8.0, and 8.1
beta compatible with PHP 8.2.
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 hostingHostingA 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. provider about the security maintenance they can do.
What “compatible with exceptions” mean?
PHP 8.0
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.
Replace most strip_tags() with wp_strip_tags(). There are rare occasions when the strip_tags() function is passed a null value, which generates a warning that the string is deprecated.
unregister_setting() for unknown setting. As of PHP 8, attempting to unregister an undefined configuration results in PHP warnings: Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type null.
What “beta” mean?
PHP 8.2
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.
Hosting Team Recommendation
Taking all this into account, the Hosting Team’s recommendations for WordPress 6.3 are as follows (which may differ from the global ones).
PHP: 8.1.x
MySQL: 8.0.x
MariaDB: 10.11.x
IMPORTANT: These recommendations are intended, primarily, for new installations by hosting providers.
TL;DR. If you are using WordPress 6.2, you should at least use PHPPHPPHP (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.PHPPHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a general-purpose scripting language especially suited to web development. PHP code is usually processed on a web serverServerA 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. 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 HTTPHTTPThe Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, where hypertext documents include hyperlinks to other resources that the user can easily access, for example by a mouse click or by tapping the screen in a web browser. response. 8.1. If you keep your WordPress, plugins and themes up to date, everything should work fine. If you are not yet using WordPress 6.2, we strongly recommend that you use this version of WordPress for maximum PHP compatibility.
PHP 8.x has been with us for a while now, so much so that even PHP 8.0 has only security support, and we should mainly use PHP 8.1 and PHP 8.2.
It mainly depends on which versions of WordPress and PHP we are talking about. There are many places to get information about WordPress and PHP compatibility:
When PHP 8.0 was released, WordPress gave some warning messages (not error messages). Most of those messages are fixed in all versions of WordPress and for all versions of PHP. Yes, there are outstanding tickets and messages, but they are few and should not affect WordPress performance.
Why put the beta label, then?
Not because of WordPress, but because of the ecosystem, i.e., plugins and themes. When PHP 8.0 appeared, block themes were not yet widespread and the Site Editor was not yet finished, which it is now. And since WordPress did not make its compatibility clear, many plugins were not adapted to PHP 8.x… because what’s the point if WordPress is non-compatible? (yes, this last question is pure sarcasm).
And, the fish that bites its tail: WordPress says it’s beta-compatible, and plugins and themes don’t adapt because WordPress isn’t… but, it’s not true. You have to read the fine print.
It’s all a matter of timing
In some cases, the release of WordPress coincides with a new major version of PHP, and that complicates everything. On the one hand, there is no time to adapt, on the other hand, everything works. And between one and the other, things are left the same.
The fact of marking WordPress as beta-compatible had a reason to be: WordPress works, but in general nobody uses WordPress without plugins. And the plugins, most of them, were not adapted to PHP 8.x.
It has been 6 months since the release of PHP 8.2 and many plugins are still not supported… although there has been time for PHP 8.0 and 8.1 to be supported.
Again, it’s a timing issue. PHP started a few years ago a cycle of annual releases of major versions that are not fully compatible with each other or generate many warnings, and reviewing all the WordPress code is complex, let alone the more than 60,000 plugins and 10,000 themes.
The Hosting vision
Security is a critical factor for hosting companies, and keeping PHP versions up to date is part of that.
That is why, every year, as the old PHP versions are no longer officially supported, the providers are activating the new ones and deactivating the old ones.
While it’s true that there are no PHP 7.4.1+ vulnerabilities reported yet (it’s a matter of time), it’s about time to use at least PHP 8.0. And, almost already, for the remaining half year of support, you should consider using at least PHP 8.1.
WordPress vs. PHP vs. Hosting companies
Undoubtedly, the decision to use one or another version of PHP for each project should be up to the users, although the hosting companies should clearly inform about the risks or not of using one or another version.
For example, someone with WordPress 5.8 cannot be recommended to activate PHP 8.1 because it probably won’t work. Nor can you push to make the change as soon as a new version of PHP is released.
What should I do?
First: the decision must always be yours. It is your project, and you have to decide what is best for it with all the information.
Second: have all the information. And this is where we can help you, a little.
Third: everything has to work. The goal is to make your site work, so you have to check, with a staging version, that everything is working properly. Ask your hosting provider for help with this.
I have WordPress 6.2
Presently, in May 2023, our recommendation is that you have at least PHP 8.1. It is a stable version, it is a secure version, and most themes and plugins work with this version.
WordPress 6.2 is compatible with 5.6.20+, PHP 7.0.x, PHP 7.1.x, PHP 7.2.x, PHP 7.3.x, PHP 7.4.x, PHP 8.0.x, PHP 8.1.x and PHP 8.2.x. BUT, older than PHP 8.0 are nor maintained, PHP 8.0 has only security maintenance and PHP 8.1 and PHP 8.2 are maintained versions. This is why PHP 8.1 is a good choice because, in general, everything should work.
What do I do if something doesn’t work? Upgrade everything to the latest versions. The latest version of WordPress 6.2 (right now WordPress 6.2.0), the latest versions of all your plugins and all your themes. If you have premium plugins, make sure you have the latest versions. Ask your hosting to help you figure out what’s wrong.
I have WordPress 6.1
When we published Server Environment for WordPress 6.1, we knew that WordPress 6.1 worked correctly with PHP 8.0 and PHP 8.1. PHP 8.2 did not, for one simple reason: it had not yet been released.
We also knew one thing: most plugins, even though PHP 8.1 had been on the market for a year, were not fully compatible. It was after PHP 7.4 stopped receiving updates that many developers started to support all available PHP 8.x versions, which are PHP 8.0, PHP 8.1 and PHP 8.2.
It has been long enough for WordPress 6.1, its plugins and themes to work properly with PHP 8.0 and PHP 8.1.
And, just as with WordPress 6.2, if you still have WordPress 6.1 everything should work correctly with PHP 8.1.
I have WordPress 5.9–6.0
You can read the same as in the two previous cases. In short, you should now be able to upgrade everything to PHP 8.1.
I have WordPress 5.6–5.9
You can read the same as in the two previous cases. In short, you should now be able to upgrade everything to PHP 8.0.
The Core, Test, and Hosting teams actively care about the full compatibility of WordPress with all its technologies. This includes Apache HTTPD, nginx, PHP, MySQL, MariaDB, memcached or Redis.
While it is true that PHP is a critical technology, we have a project in which many hosting companies test their systems with future versions of WordPress so that, once released, its compatibility is as high as possible.
You can see the results of Host Test Results and learn how well it works and what the bugs are. Errors are good because it means that a possible incompatibility has been detected and will be corrected in the future so that WordPress remains compatible with the widest number of systems.
Since the release of WordPress 6.1 the HostingHostingA 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 has received quite a few inquiries about some of the configurations related to the ServerServerA 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. Environment.
Within the Handbook Hosting there is a page that is updated with each new major version of WordPress, or significant change, the information of the optimal and recommended configuration from the computer, in coordination with the rest of the teams.
Since last 2022-11-16 a new update of the page is available. As always, we recommend keeping the latest versions of the various services, especially for security. For example, using the latest versions of the web serverServerA 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. does not usually affect WordPress at all. In general, the same thing happens with databases, it is best to use the latest versions of MySQLMySQLMySQL 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. or MariaDBMariaDBMariaDB 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., taking into account their connection with PHPPHPPHP (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..
And we come to PHP versions, which is usually the most delicate in each version of WordPress, whether in the coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress., plugins or themes.
In this table you can find the list of available, stable versions that were at the time of the release of each WordPress version.
WordPress
PHP
MySQL
MariaDB
Date
WordPress 6.1
7.4 – 8.1
5.7 – 8.0
10.3 – 10.9
2022-11-01
WordPress 6.0
7.4 – 8.1
5.7 – 8.0
10.3 – 10.7
2022-05-24
WordPress 5.9
7.4 – 8.1
5.7 – 8.0
10.2 – 10.6
2022-01-25
WordPress 5.8
7.3 – 8.0
5.7 – 8.0
10.2 – 10.6
2021-07-20
WordPress 5.7
7.3 – 8.0
5.7 – 8.0
10.2 – 10.5
2021-03-09
But, to this table, we must add the compatibility of the WordPress Core in each version.
WordPress
PHP compatible
PHP betaBetaBeta 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
WordPress 6.1
5.6 – 7.4
8.0* / 8.1* / 8.2*
WordPress 6.0
5.6 – 7.4
8.0* / 8.1*
WordPress 5.9
5.6 – 7.4
8.0* / 8.1*
WordPress 5.8
5.6 – 7.4
8.0*
WordPress 5.7
5.6 – 7.4
8.0*
Versions with * are those with beta compatibility. To learn more about beta compatibility, you can check out WordPress and PHP 8.0 and WordPress 5.9 and PHP 8.0-8.1. WordPress 6.1’s compatibility with PHP 8.2 is pending, although it should be noted that PHP 8.2 is not yet publicly available (it is scheduled to do so in early December 2022).
How to know which is the best stable version for each version of WordPress? Use the ServeHappy API. This APIAPIAn Application Programming Interface (API) is a computing interface that defines interactions between multiple software intermediaries. It defines the kinds of calls or requests that can be made, how to make them, the data formats that should be used, the conventions to follow, etc. returns the best compatibility information of WordPress with PHP.
WordPress
Minimum PHP
Recommended PHP
API JSONJSONJavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is an open standard file format, and data interchange format, that uses human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consisting of attribute–value pairs and array data types. It is a very common data format, with a diverse range of applications, such as serving as a replacement for XML in AJAX systems.
These values may vary depending on the different teams consider the change.
Although official support for PHP 7.4 will soon end, currently only with security support, several open sourceOpen SourceOpen 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. projects have requested the PHP Foundation to extend the support of this version until all of them are updated on their new compatibility, including WordPress, which could give that compatibility in WordPress 6.2 (taking into account the current tickets).
What is the Hosting team’s recommendation to Hosting companies? Maintain, for now, PHP 7.4 as the default version for all WordPress, and test and report compatibility with PHP 8.0, 8.1 and 8.2, when available.
If you want to help the Hosting, Core, and Test teams, test new versions and future WordPress, PHP and SQL compatibility, you can use the tool WordPress Distributed Hosting Tests (Test Runner).
During the Contributor Day at the WordCamp Europe 2022, the HostingHostingA 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 found that WP_MEMORY_LIMIT is set as 40 MB (single site) and 64 MB (multisiteMultisiteMultisite is a WordPress feature which allows users to create a network of sites on a single WordPress installation. Available since WordPress version 3.0, Multisite is a continuation of WPMU or WordPress Multiuser project. WordPress MultiUser project was discontinued and its features were included into WordPress core.https://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network.). Furthermore, the WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT is set as 256 MB.
WP_MEMORY_LIMIT is the value for the WordPress Memory Limit, usually referred to the frontend memory, and WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT is the value for the PHPPHPPHP (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. Memory Limit, usually referred to the backend memory.
History
Around September 2013, the WP_MEMORY_LIMIT value changed from 32 MB to 40 MB (32+8). Some tests done by the Hosting Team suggest that the memory used on WordPress is around 16 MB.
The PHP memory_limit sets the maximum amount of memory in bytes that a script is allowed to allocate. This helps prevent poorly written scripts for eating up all available memory on a serverServerA 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.. Note that to have no memory limit, set this directive to -1. Check the PHP page for more information.
PHP values
The first part gets the value from PHP, and if not exists, sets a default value. Thereafter, if the value is incorrect (in bytes) sets the memory limit from the constant.
PHP >5.2.0 (2008-12-12): valued at 128 MB (view archive.org page)
Some questions
Why change the WP_MEMORY_LIMIT value?
To level it to the PHP standard.
If the hoster has some kind of limitation, misconfiguration, an incorrect value or does not allow changing it, the value used is the lesser, of 40 MB, which usually produces memory errors, when it should use the PHP default value, which is generally acceptable in new installations. At this time, 20 latest versions of WordPress (since WordPress 4.1 / 2014-12-17) can use PHP 5.6.40+ so it would meet the minimums set by PHP.
Can, actually, the value be greater than the PHP value?
Yes. That’s why there is an intent to include something like:
We should keep in mind some basic assumptions when incorporating PHP memory limits based on what users can do.
The memory limit set by computer systems are set for a reason. And that reason should be enforced; therefore, PHP’s memory limit should not be exceeded, and in case it needs to be exceeded, it should be changed by the system administration.
Users can set the values they want from the wp-config.phpwp-config.phpOne of the most important files in a WordPress installation is the wp-config.php file. This file is located in the root of your WordPress file directory and contains your website’s base configuration details, such as database connection information. configuration file. Often, extremely high values are set to hide a memory consumption problem due to bad programming. With a few visits it usually works, but it is a short-term fix.
We must be realistic about the memory limits of the WordPress CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress. and the normal use of a WordPress, whether it is a simple WordPress or a WordPress Multisite. Most WordPress sites install plugins and themes that make memory spikes higher.
PHP has its baseline memory limits that should serve as a reference for its use and application.
Proposal
Considering that since 2008, and PHP >5.2.0 the memory_limit value is equal to 128 MB, should we consider an update of this value in the WordPress base configuration, or at least an update of the values?
The proposal from the WordPress Hosting team is for WP_MEMORY_LIMIT:
Users can modify the WP_MEMORY_LIMIT and WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT at wp-config.php and should have some limitations in values, as far as WordPress cannot overflow PHP.
Getting the values
When doing some calls to PHP functions and values, got this:
php.iniphp.iniThe main configuration file of PHP.: memory_limit -> value: 256M
function: memory_get_usage -> value: 2097152
updating the ini_set memory_limit to 512M -> value: memory_limit = 256M
Although there are many types of hostingHostingA 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., most WordPress users use shared hosting, and some use VPSVPSA virtual private server (VPS) is a virtual machine sold as a service by an Internet hosting service. A VPS runs its own copy of an operating system (OS), and customers may have superuser-level access to that operating system instance, so they can install almost any software that runs on that OS. or Cloud hosting. Those who use VPS or Cloud usually manage their own servers and therefore decide the use of PHPPHPPHP (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. extensions, but those who use shared hosting usually do not have that option.
A few weeks ago came to the Hosting Team a request to analyze the suitability of using the Internationalization PHP extension because, although the WordPress CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress. does not need it just now, partly because it is known that it is not recommended or mandatory, development teams do not use it because it is not there, and hosters do not install it because WordPress does not use it. It’s the fish that bites its own tail.
Deciding which ApacheApacheApache is the most widely used web server software. Developed and maintained by Apache Software Foundation. Apache is an Open Source software available for free. modules, which PHP extensions, which databaseDatabaseA database is an organized collection of data. Access to this data is usually provided by a "database management system" (DBMS) consisting of an integrated set of computer software that allows users to interact with one or more databases and provides access to all of the data contained in the database. Because of the close relationship between them, the term "database" is often used casually to refer to both a database and the DBMS used to manipulate it. configuration or choice of cacheCacheA cache is a component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation or a copy of data stored elsewhere. is not something to be taken lightly.
Why is the PHP Intl extension important?
WordPress is a global, international software, with support for a multitude of languages and with infinite combinations. Approximately half of the installations are in a language that is not the default (English) and this leads us to think about localisms, transliteration, encoding conversions, calendar operations, collation … in short, everything you have with the different languages and formats that are around the planet. And this is what the PHP Intl extension provides.
What do we as a WordPress Community gain from this extension?
Above all, we gain the possibility to use a lot of functions that can make our life easier than developers and that would improve the way we develop to improve WordPress.
Functions like collator_compare will allow us to compare Unicode text strings; with numfmt_format we will be able to format a number according to the selected locale; the normalization of characters; the formatting of messages; to know which is the first day of the week according to the locale, without needing to ask the user for it.
Yes, you may well think that WordPress already does many of these things, but in many cases it does them using hacks that could now be deprecated and used natively.
Hosting Team Recommendation
Taking into account that WordPress continues to grow, the Hosting Team has considered a good recommendation, but not an obligation, for all hostings that work with WordPress the possibility of offering this extension, by default, to all users.
Also, we open discussion to all hosters and also the Core Team and Plugins Team.
Thank you to everybody who has contributed to the conversation regarding PHPPHPPHP (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. extension requirements!
This post is meant to summarize the feedback had so far, and not to make recommendations at this stage.
Background
Following the release of WordPress 5.2 and Site HealthSite HealthThis WordPress functionality will perform a number of checks on your installation to detect common configuration errors and known issues, and also allows plugins and themes to add their own checks. Check, the hostingHostingA 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 started working on documentation to help bring clarity about requirements and recommendations to users and hosts.
The official requirements do not yet list PHP extension details. There is a meta ticket discussing how to handle this.
Site Health Check, however, lists both PHP extension requirements and recommendations via WP_Site_Health::get_test_php_extensions() in the new Site Health functionality in 5.2.
The recommendations included are extensions that are not required by coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress., but are used when available to make WordPress function better.
Discussion on changing these was started in this trac ticket. While discussion is in progress, feedback was requested from hosts.
Based on feedback received in @mikeschroder‘s post regarding PHP requirements:
• 75% of feedback indicated that the handbook should make recommendations beyond the required PHP extensions.
• There was a 50/50 split on whether Site Health Check should also recommend PHP extensions beyond requirements.
• However, more than half of responses indicate that core requirements and recommendations (if provided) should both be available via Site Health.
The following extensions were suggested as additional recommendations to be made:
opcache
bcmath
memcache
memcachedMemcachedMemcached is a general-purpose distributed memory-caching system. It is often used to speed up dynamic database-driven websites by caching data and objects in RAM to reduce the number of times an external data source must be read. Memcached is free and open-source software.
Intl
@peterwilsonccrecommended here that the following parameters be in place for determining what extensions are recommended:
“1. it’s used in WordPress Core 2. it’s included in the default PHP build for each version WordPress Core supports, currently the default builds for PHP 5.6+”
About Intl
There is an existing feature request for recommending the intl extension, found here.
@fierevere Pointed out that “intl has hard dependency on icu system libraries, which will consume over 30 Mb diskspace on smaller (VPSVPSA virtual private server (VPS) is a virtual machine sold as a service by an Internet hosting service. A VPS runs its own copy of an operating system (OS), and customers may have superuser-level access to that operating system instance, so they can install almost any software that runs on that OS./embedded) systems. Each loaded library claims some memory and initialization time overhead. Bigger distributions can link libicu to libxml2 library and therefore it can be loaded by libxml2 linked extensions, but this dependency is optional”
This trac ticket was re-opened and is related, in that Normalizer::normalize requires the intl and icu extensions.
@bronsonquickmentioned here that they “… had to created a new Chassis extension for PHP intl when I was working on a clients site in another language as it wasn’t bundled!”
@swissspidy brought up an important point here, stating that “an available extension does not necessarily mean that it’s working. For example, we’ve often ran into issues where hosts disable functions like curl_multi_init or even curl_init. Or, in the case of the INTL extension, when a serverServerA 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. is running PHP 7.2 but uses a super outdated version of the extension which doesn’t include the functions and constants one would expect. So any site health check for extensions should also check against these things.”
Thank you
Thank you again to everyone who contributed to the conversation regarding PHP extensions. Please feel free to add additional comments here or bring it up in the #hosting-communitySlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel. Your feedback is important!
