Minimum PHP Version Requirement

Not all plugins can work on PHPPHP PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. http://php.net/manual/en/intro-whatis.php. 5.2, like WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. currently does. Not all 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/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party developers want to support PHP 5.2, like core does. As a project, WordPress would like to move forward and encourage people to use more recent PHP versions.

As one of the first steps to reach that goal, plugin authors can now specify a minimum required PHP version for their plugin in readme.txt file with a new Requires PHP headerHeader The header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes.:

=== Plugin Name ===
Contributors: (this should be a list of wordpress.org userid's)
Donate link: http://example.com/
Tags: comments, spam
Requires at least: 4.6
Tested up to: 4.8
Requires PHP: 5.6
Stable tag: 4.3
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Users will see this displayed in the plugin directory, like this:

As a next step, the WordPress core team is going look into showing users a notice that they cannot install a certain plugin or theme because their install does not meet the required criteria, with some user-oriented and host-specific instructions on how to switch their site to a newer PHP version.

If you have any feedback on the subject, please leave a comment or join the next PHP meeting in #core-php channel on 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/..